Families' View on Primary Nursing in Intensive Care Units - A Cross-Sectional Study

Family-centred care (FCC) has come into the focus of treatment in intensive care units (ICUs). Primary nursing (PN) as a patient-centred care nursing organisation model seems to be a good prerequisite for the integration of patients' families into nursing care. Current research on families' perspectives of PN on ICUs is rare.

To evaluate satisfaction of families with PN, compared with individual nursing as standard care (SC). Secondary aims were to evaluate nursing framework conditions, support by physicians, interprofessional collaboration and environmental factors of the hospital.

Cross sectional study with patients' family members in a surgical and medical ICU. A validated questionnaire with 27 items and 3 or 5-point Likert scales was used. The Wilcoxon rank test was used to calculate group differences. Data collection took place between November 2023 and May 2025.

Overall, 213 questionnaires were incorporated into the analysis. Family members of patients in PN (n = 63) reported better information about care measures, with a median of 1 (IQR 1 to 2) on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = very good; 5 = very bad) compared to 2 (IQR: 1 to 3) in SC (n = 150; p = 0.047). They also reported better information to help support patients' recovery (PN: 1 [IQR: 1 to 2]; SC: 2 [IQR: 1 to 3]; p = 0.01). Nursing framework conditions were similar in both groups, as well as most of physicians' support of families, the collaboration of interprofessional staff on ICU and environmental factors of the hospital.

Families within our study had contact to PN or SC. Positive results in both groups are in line with how PN and also individual nursing are described in the literature. Follow-up studies using a mixed-methods design are necessary to further investigate the effects of PN.

Family members ranked PN and SC positively, with trends for PN. This could indicate that FCC is being carried out on both ICUs.