Table 2.

The family experience and suggestions for improvement

Discovering a “new world”	Open/flexible visiting policies
Coping with medical jargon	Use family leaflets and digital materials
Difficulties in understanding information (inadequate timing, language barriers, contradictory information)	Improve communication skills
Reporting impersonal information	Adapt words, use reformulation (tell-ask-tell), and when necessary, an interpreter
Psychological distress at any time during the ICU stay:	Allow more time for information
Acute stress	Develop empathetic communication, verbal and nonverbal communication
Anxiety	Encourage
Depression	Personalization
Peritraumatic dissociation	Agency
Psychological distress in the months that follow ICU discharge:	Togetherness
Anxiety	Sense-making
Depression	Regular interprofessional family meetings, including the nurse
PTSD	Family End of Life conference (VALUE acronym)
Complicated grief	Nurse communication facilitator
Other difficulties	Physician and nurse support strategy before, during and after the patient’s death
Sleep disorders and sleepiness	Available psychologist
Managing family and work life	Available social worker
Financial stress
Transfer anxiety