A pilot study of audiovisual family meetings in the intensive care unit

Abstract Purpose We hypothesized that virtual family meetings in the intensive care unit with conference calling or Skype videoconferencing would result in increased family member satisfaction and more efficient decision making. Methods This is a prospective, nonblinded, nonrandomized pilot study. A 6-question survey was completed by family members after family meetings, some of which used conference calling or Skype by choice. Overall, 29 (33%) of the completed surveys came from audiovisual family meetings vs 59 (67%) from control meetings. Results The survey data were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling, which did not find any significant group differences between satisfaction with the audiovisual meetings vs controls. There was no association between the audiovisual intervention and withdrawal of care ( P = .682) or overall hospital length of stay ( z = 0.885, P = .376). Conclusions Although we do not report benefit from an audiovisual intervention, these results are preliminary and heavily influenced by notable limitations to the study. Given that the intervention was feasible in this pilot study, audiovisual and social media intervention strategies warrant additional investigation given their unique ability to facilitate communication among family members in the intensive care unit.