Difference in the Perceived Family Needs Importance and Satisfaction between Family Members of Critical Patients and Nurses in the Emergency Department

When a patient appears in the emergency room for emergency situations or accidents, the medical team usually only focuses on the medical situation of the patient, leaving the patient’s family members outside the emergency room and neglected. The purpose of this study is to identify the needs important of family members of critical patients, and the level to which such needs are satisfied. Also, the differences of family need perception assessed between these two groups are compared. This study is a cross-sectional design with a descriptive comparison approach, using the structured questionnaires of Critical Care Family Needs Inventory－Emergency Department (with different versions for family members and nurses) as our main research tool. All subjects are recruited from the emergency room of medical center in northern Taiwan, using a purposive sampling method. Seventy family members of critical patients and seventy nurses in the emergency room are recruited. The data is analyzed by using descriptive statistics, independent t test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation and hierarchical multiple regression analysis.
The results show that:（1）The mean score of the needs importance for the family members is 8.03, and for the nurses is 7.05. Both groups rank order needs importance for “communication with family members” the highest and needs importance for “comfort” the lowest.（2）The mean score of the needs satisfaction for the family members is 7.12, and for the nurses is 6.17. Both groups rank order needs satisfaction for “communication with family members” the highest and needs satisfaction for “comfort” the lowest.（3）Out of 40 categories being presented to the family members and nurses, there exists significant differences in needs importance score of 25 categories by the two groups, mainly with family members deciding that a certain category is more important than what nursing staff thought. Out of the level of satisfaction of the same 40 categories, 35 statements showed significant differences in mean scores by family members and by nurses. The finding indicate that family members rated the needs mean score of the needs satisfaction higher than the nurses .（4）There exists a positive correlation between the needs importance score and the needs satisfaction score for both groups, meaning that the higher the needs importance score for a category, the higher the needs satisfaction score for that same category.（5）The influencing factors of needs importance in family members includes: amount of time family members spent with patients in emergency room, average family monthly income, number of family members, age of family members, and number of times patient has been to the emergency room. The influencing factors of needs satisfaction in family members includes: sex of family member and living situation of the family member with the patient.（6）The influencing factors of needs importance in nurses includes: nurses’ marital status. The influencing factors of needs satisfaction in nurses includes: age of nursing staff, length of experience in the emergency room and length of experience in nursing.（7） Predictors of needs importance in family members includes: amount of time members spent with patient in emergency room, age of member, family size, and whether the family member is the primary care provider for the patient, accounting for 48.8% of total variation. Predictive factors for family members’ needs satisfaction score includes: age, sex and residency of family member, accounting for 37% of total variation.（8）Predictors of needs importance for nurses’ needs satisfaction score includes: length of experience in the emergency room and length of experience in nursing, accounting for 35.9% of total variation. These findings can serve as a useful reference for future application in effective family members care and assist nurses to understand the needs of family members. Results of this study may be of use to clinical nurses in helping family members in forming appropriate responses and making reasonable adjustments, so as to work together for the good of the patient.