Improving Family Communication in Critical Care

Abstract

Communication with family members in critical care is challenged by socioeconomic, environmental, and organizational factors. Ineffective communication between health care providers and family members results in psychological distress and anxiety among family members and can lead to misunderstanding of the patient’s condition and ineffective decision-making. This manuscript aims to explore barriers to effective communication, understand standardized communication tools, and support their implementation in critical care. An extensive search of various databases provided a variety of articles meeting the criteria of communication barriers in critical care,