Interprofessional Interventions to Improve Serious Illness Communication in the Intensive Care Unit: A Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Communication
• Critical Care Medicine
• Interprofessional Education

Background:

• Effective communication is crucial for quality intensive care unit (ICU) patient care.
• Interprofessional team involvement in serious illness discussions is recognized as beneficial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To map existing evidence on interprofessional interventions aimed at improving serious illness communication within the ICU setting.
• To identify and categorize strategies used in these interventions.

Main Methods:

• A scoping review was conducted following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.
• Fourteen studies investigating interprofessional interventions for serious illness communication in the ICU were included.
• Studies were categorized based on intervention strategies and outcome measures.

Main Results:

• Interventions primarily fell into three categories: training curricula, scheduled meetings, and liaison roles, often used in combination.
• Outcome measures were diverse, focusing on patient/family, provider, or systems-level impacts.
• Significant heterogeneity was observed across the included studies.

Conclusions:

• Interprofessional interventions show promise for enhancing serious illness communication in the ICU.
• The heterogeneity of current research highlights a need for more standardized and rigorous studies.
• Further research is essential to develop and validate effective strategies for interprofessional serious illness communication in critical care.