Improving Patient and Family Centered Care in Advanced Critical Illness

The PARTNER intervention (PAiring Re-engineered ICU Teams with Nurse-driven Emotional Support and Relationship-building) consists of: 1) institution of a clinical pathway for family support overseen by ICU staff nurses; 2) advanced communication skills training for ICU staff nurses; 3) a multifaceted strategy to support implementation of the clinical pathway for family support.

The control group will receive usual care, in which the frequency and content of clinician-family communication is determined by the clinical team according to their usual practice. No study ICU has a protocolized approach to family communication and instead clinicians determine the timing and frequency of communication with families. All sites have palliative care services.