. 2015 Apr 28;29(9):774–796. doi: 10.1177/0269216315583032

Table 5.

Representation of the top 5 ranked elements of end-of-life care in the hospital setting from the perspectives of families.

Study	Domain
	Expert care	Effective communication and shared decision making	Respectful and compassionate care	Trust and confidence in clinicians	Financial affairs
Osborn et al.^28a	How well the nurses cared for your family member (2/24)^b How well the ICU staff treated your family member’s pain (3/24)^b How well the ICU staff treated your family member’s agitation (5/24)^b	Did you feel you had control over the care of your family member? (1/24)^b Did you feel supported in the decision making process? (4/24)^b	The courtesy, respect, and compassion your family member was given (4/24)^b	Domain not rated in top five elements of care in this study	Domain not rated in top five elements of care in this study
Heyland et al.³⁵	Domain not rated in top five elements of care in this study	That the doctor(s) were available when you or your relative needed them (by phone or in person) during the past month? (2/38)^b	That the doctors and nurses looking after your relative during the past month were compassionate and supportive of you? (3/38)^b That the doctors and nurses looking after your relative during the past month were compassionate and supportive of him or her? (4/38)^b That the doctor(s) took a personal interest in your relative during the past month? (5/38)^b	With the level of trust and confidence you had in the doctor(s) who looked after your relative during the past month? (1/38)^b	Domain not rated in top five elements of care in this study
Young et al.³⁴	Doctors and nurses knew enough about the deceased’s condition (focus on doctor)(1/7)^b Enough help available to help with personal care needs (2/7)^b Doctors and nurses knew enough about the deceased’s condition (focus on nurse) (3/7)^b Felt that the deceased died in the right place (5/7)^b	Able to discuss worries and fears with hospital staff about deceased condition, treatment or tests (focus on doctor) (4/7)^b	Domain not rated in top five elements of care in this study	Domain not rated in top five elements of care in this study	Domain not rated in top five elements of care in this study
Heyland et al.²⁵	To have an adequate plan of care and health services available to look after him or her at home, after discharge from hospital (4/25)^b That your family member has relief of physical symptoms such as pain, shortness of breath and nausea (5/25)^b	To not have your family member be kept alive on life support when there is little hope for a meaningful recovery (2/25)^b That information about your family member’s disease be communicated to you by the doctor in an honest manner (3/25)^b	Domain not rated in top five elements of care in this study	To have trust and confidence in the doctor looking after the patient (1/25)^b	Domain not rated in top five elements of care in this study
Baker et al.^32c	Comfort score was inversely associated with the degree of patient pain during the last 3 days of life	Surrogates who reported patient’s preferences were followed moderately or not at all had less satisfaction	Domain not rated in top five elements of care in this study	Domain not rated in top five elements of care in this study	Surrogates who reported the patient’s illness had greater effect on family finances had less satisfaction
Steinhauser et al.²¹	Be kept clean (1/44)^b Be free of pain (4/44)^b	Name a decision maker (2/44)^b Have someone who will listen (2/44)^b	Maintain one’s dignity (2/44)^b Presence of family (4/44)^b Have physical touch (5/44)^b	Have a nurse with whom one feels comfortable (2/44)^b Trust one’s physician (3/44)^b	Have financial affairs in order (5/44)^b
Kristjanson^33d	Important for patients: Physician assesses symptoms thoroughly (1/74)^b Symptoms treated quickly (2/74)^b MD pays attention to patient’s description of symptoms (3/74)^b Pain relieved quickly (4/74)^b	Important for patients: Tests and treatments are followed up (5/74)^b Important for families: Information provided about patient’s prognosis (1/77)^b Caregivers are straightforward when answering questions (2/77)^b Information provided about side effects of treatments and drugs (3/77)^b Information on future stages of treatment and care (4/77)^b Family conference arranged by MD to discuss patient’s illness (5/77)^b	Domain not rated in top five elements of care in this study	Domain not rated in top five elements of care in this study	Domain not rated in top five elements of care in this study
Frequency	16	15	7	4	2

ICU: intensive care unit.

Domains: overarching categories developed by this review through data synthesis; Domain name in italics: domain that is specific to family data (not found in top rankings of patient data); Data in each cell: primary data from each article ranked in their top five elements of care; Frequency: overall frequency count for data within each domain collated by this review; Shaded cells: domain not ranked in the top five rankings for each particular study.

This study had one element of care that was not categorised due to insufficient information as disclosed by the authors. This element was ‘the atmosphere of ICU (3/24)^b’ with it being unclear whether this referred to the physical environment, policies regarding visitation or staff efforts to enable family comfort.

Numerical data in brackets is the ranking of all elements of care measured in each article.

Data not formally ranked – statistically significant scores included here.

Study asks participants to rank important elements for patient care and family care. Both sets of ranked data were provided (noted as patient or family focus) and both counted in overall frequency.