Trial reportIntensive care medicine2024
A randomised controlled trial of a nurse facilitator to promote communication for family members of critically ill patients.
Trial report in Intensive care medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Characteristics and Effectiveness of Nurse-Led Family Communication Interventions in the ICU: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Critical care medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Workplace violence experiences of intensive care unit healthcare providers: a qualitative systematic review and meta--synthesis.BMC health services research · 2025Pooled it
- The FICUS cluster randomized controlled trial of a family support intervention in adult intensive care units: mental health and family functioning outcomes.Intensive care medicine · 2026Trial
- Exploring Implementation Processes of a Multicomponent Family Support Intervention in Intensive Care Units (FICUS) Study: A Mixed-Methods Process Evaluation.Journal of advanced nursing · 2025Trial
- Effects of The Caregiver Pathway intervention on symptoms of post-intensive care syndrome among family caregivers to critically ill patients: long-term results from a randomized controlled trial.Intensive care medicine · 2025Trial
- Nurse-Led Family Support Intervention for Families of Critically Ill Patients: The FICUS Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA internal medicine · 2025Trial
- Randomized Clinical Trial of the Four Supports Intervention for Surrogate Decision-Makers in Intensive Care Units.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2025Trial
- Mobile App-Facilitated Collaborative Palliative Care Intervention for Critically Ill Older Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA internal medicine · 2025Trial
- Family Engagement in the ICU: Not Just Information Sharing and Decision-Making.CHEST critical care · 2026Article
- Family support in intensive care: beyond no effect trials and the hidden challenges of cluster randomization.Intensive care medicine · 2026Article
- ICU communication: 'state of the art'.Intensive care medicine · 2026Article
- Patient and family experiences of sedation in an urban academic tertiary-level intensive care unit in Canada: a qualitative study.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Interventions to improve mental health in caregivers of adult intensive care patients: a systematic review.BMC nursing · 2026Article
- Investigating the Feasibility, Usability, and Efficacy of a Mobile App to Reduce Anxiety and Depression in Families of Critical Care Cancer Patients: A Quasi-Experimental Pilot Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Acupuncture for irritable bowel syndrome comorbid with anxiety and depression: study protocol for a placebo run-in, randomized clinical trial.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Unraveling family resilience patterns in ICU first-episode stroke: a latent profile analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Anxiety, depression and distress in family members of people who have experienced a critical care admission: a systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis.Journal of intensive care · 2025Article
- Patient-Centered Measures of Goal Concordance in Geriatrics and Palliative Care: A Scoping Review.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Risk Factors and Consequences of Financial Hardship among Family of Critically Ill Patients.Annals of the American Thoracic Society · 2025Article
- Exploring Video Calls and PTSD Symptoms in Family Members of Severe COVID-19 Patients Post-ICU Discharge: A Mixed-Methods Study.Nursing in critical care · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
19 authors at 8 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeSuboptimal communication with clinicians, fragmented care and failure to align with patients' preferences are determinants of post intensive care unit (ICU) burden in family members. Our aim was to evaluate the impact of a nurse facilitator on family psychological burden.
methodsWe carried out a randomised controlled trial in five ICUs in France comparing standard communication by ICU clinicians to additional communication and support by nurse facilitators. We included patients > 18 years, with expected ICU length of stay > 2 days, chronic life-limiting illness, and their family members. Facilitators were trained to help families to secure care in line with patient's goals, beginning in ICU and continuing for 3 months. Assessments were made at baseline and 1, 3 and 6 months post-randomisation. Primary outcome was the evolution of family symptoms of depression over 6 months using a linear mixed effects model on the depression subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Secondary outcomes included HADS-Anxiety, Impact of Event Scale-6, goal-concordant care and experience of serious illness (QUAL-E).
results385 patients and family members were enrolled. Follow-up at 1-, 3- and 6-month was completed by 284 (74%), 264 (68.6%) and 260 (67.5%) family members respectively. The intervention was associated with significantly more formal meetings between the ICU team and the family (1 [1-3] vs 2 [1-4]; p < 0.001). There was no significant difference between the intervention and control groups in evolution of symptoms of depression over 6 months (p = 0.91), nor in symptoms of depression at 6 months [0.53 95% CI (- 0.48; 1.55)]. There were no significant differences in secondary outcomes.
conclusionThis study does not support the use of facilitators for family members of ICU patients.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.