The experiences of families with a relative in the intensive care unit

To describe the experiences of families with a relative in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Retrospective, descriptive, and qualitative.

The surgical-trauma ICU in a midwestern university-affiliated tertiary medical center.

Eighteen women and 2 men with relatives in a surgical trauma ICU.

Focus group and individual unstructured interviews.

A group interpretive process was used to code, categorize, and identify themes found in the transcribed interviews. Four categories of experiences were identified: hovering, information seeking, tracking, and the garnering of resources. Hovering is an initial sense of confusion, stress, and uncertainty. Information seeking is a tactic used both to move out of the hovering state and to identify the patient's progress. Tracking is the process of observing, analyzing, and evaluating patient care and status and the family's own satisfaction with the environment and with care givers. The garnering of resources is the act of acquiring what family members perceive as needed for themselves or their relative.

Families experience a sense of uncertainty that is eventually resolved by seeking information and resources. Health care professionals can minimize the stress associated with hospitalization of relatives in the ICU by anticipating and addressing the family's needs for information and resources.