Asking the Question 'What Matters to You?' in a London Intensive Care Unit

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Patient-Centered Care
• Critical Care Medicine

Background:

• The "What Matters To You?" (WMTY) movement promotes shared decision-making, shifting from paternalistic care.
• WMTY principles are underutilized in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting.
• Integrating patient-centered communication is crucial for improving critical care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and implement a tool for intensive care unit (ICU) patients to facilitate "What Matters To You?" conversations.
• To improve the application of WMTY principles in a critical care environment.
• To enhance patient-provider communication in the ICU.

Main Methods:

• A quality improvement project utilized Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) methodology over 8 cycles.
• A multidisciplinary team designed and integrated a bedside poster as a communication tool.
• Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through bedside audits during PDSA cycles.

Main Results:

• Over 50% of ICU patients engaged in "What Matters To You?" conversations, a significant increase from baseline.
• A novel bedside poster effectively summarized patient responses for ICU staff.
• 100% of surveyed staff found the posters useful and gained new patient insights.

Conclusions:

• The developed poster is an effective tool for summarizing "What Matters To You?" responses in the ICU.
• The intervention successfully increased WMTY conversations among ICU patients.
• This approach is transferable to other intensive care units, promoting patient-centered care.