ABSTRACT
The palliative care interdisciplinary team, by treating patients and their family members as a "unit of care", is able to assess family caregivers' distress levels, including symptoms of depression, social isolation, or emotional exhaustion. Inadequate communication with family caregivers can result in additional distress (stress, anxiety, and dissatisfaction) due to unmet information needs, the lack of knowledge and understanding, the lack of shared decision-making, conflict with staff and among family members, as well as the lack of trust in health-care providers. Studies on family conferences in the ICU setting have also shown improvements in communication, reductions in the burden of bereavement, family caregiver distress and even reductions in the length of stay, but not all studies. Health-care professionals working with family members of chronically ill patients must also be mindful of the cultural and ethnic diversity as they communicate with and provide psychosocial support to critically ill patients and their family caregivers.
