Expanding visiting time and encouraging family participation in the care are supported by many critical care societies and  Health organisations, although the reality continues being restricted. It is thought that families can affect flows of work and thereby, alter the results and performance.

In the ORCHESTRA study carried out in Brazil (a multicenter retrospective cohort study of critical care organization and outcomes during 2013), the association between family policies related to care and use of resources and performance of ICU adjusted to the severity of the disease were analyzed.

78 ICU were included (almost 60,000 patients): features related with hospital and the ICU Organization, the structure, the process of attention, the visiting policies and the communication and participation of family members in the care of patients.

Hospital mortality was 14.4%; the ICU with lower mortality had  more liberal visiting policies and different strategies to improve communication with families. Also, the ICU with high efficiency in the use of resources had more flexible visits.

This is the first study that shows that the performance and efficiency in the use of those resources are associated with the family engagement and an open visiting policy, and can be implemented without compromising these outcomes. Creating efficient conditions facilitates the family participation.

And in Spain… What’s going on in the last three years?. We would like to know your opinión from all the ICU that have made changes or new protocols in your visiting policy, and see the evolution of opening ICU doors. We know, thanks to the studies of José Manuel Velasco and Dolores Escudero, that from 2005 to 2015 the really practically was the same: 70% of ICU with restrictive visits, 2 visits per day of 30 minutes to 1 hour.

What is happening after Proyecto HU-CI?. Tell us your experience!

Happy Tuesday,

Gabi