Title: Family Reported Experiences Evaluation (FREE) Study: evaluation of families satisfaction with adult critical care services in the NHS
Funder: Department of Health (England)

Abstract: Design: Psychometric evaluation leading to cohort study.Setting: Adult general critical care units in NHS acute hospitals. Participants: Family members* of adult patients admitted to the critical care unit for at least 24 hours. (* a person/group of persons with close familial social or emotional relationship to the patient)Intervention: The Family Satisfaction in the Intensive Care Unit (FS-ICU) 24-item questionnaire.Methods: Psychometric evaluation using cognitive debriefing interviews will etablish the face and content validity and comprehensibility of the FS-ICU and inform the final wording. The cohort study will recruit a large sample of family members from a representative number of critical care units over a one year period and data will be linked with the National Clinical Audit of adult critical care the ICNARC Case Mix Programme (CMP). Contact details of up to four family members for each patient and minimal patient details will be recorded on a secure web portal. The FS-ICU will be mailed to family members three weeks after the patient dies or is discharged.The FS-ICU responses will be used to: conduct a psychometric assessment to establish internal consistency construct validity and responsiveness to change of the FS-ICU; describe family satisfaction; and explore how family satisfaction varies according to family member patient and unit/hospital characteristics and other contextual factors using multilevel modelling. Sampling techniques will be used to model approaches to representative sampling for routine use of the FS-ICU for real-time feedback.Dissemination and knowledge mobilisation: The final report to HSR Programme will provide a full and detailed report of the study and identify policy managerial and practice implications. Ongoing progress of the study will be disseminated to participating units through newsletters and email updates to the wider clinical and academic community through relevant professional newsletters meetings and national and international conferences to consumers via patient support groups and the ICNARC website and to managers commissioners and policy makers through our wide range of established contacts (e.g. Critical Care Stakeholders Forum Department of Health Acute and Critical Care Information Advisory Group and National Clinical Audit Advisory Group Health Services Research Network NHS Confederation etc.). Articles will be prepared for relevant professional journals as well as for peer-reviewed scientific journals. Each critical care unit participating in the study will receive a Satisfaction Survey Report summarising their results and enabling them to target areas for quality improvement. Finally and most importantly the establishment of a feasible and representative sampling frame will permit rapid incorporation into routine use through the CMP enabling family satisfaction to be added to the panel of quality indicators that is regularly and routinely reported to adult critical care units in the UK.


Research activity codes: 8.1 ORGANISATION AND DELIVERY OF SERVICES
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE