Nurses’ roles with families: Perceptions of ICU nurses

SummaryThis descriptive survey examined: (a) differences between nurses’ (N = 47) perceptions of self-performance and that of their colleagues with regard to their roles with family members of intensive care patients, and (b) the impact of nurses’ comfort on their role enactment as it relates to family focused interventions. Participants rated their self-performance higher than that of their colleagues with respect to 15 of the19 items, suggesting that they think they perform better than their colleagues. The results also showed that nurses’ comfort was positively correlated with their role enactment as it pertains to discussing patient prognosis (r = .496; p < .001), explaining patient's equipment (r = .43; p = .003), and discussing the possibility of death with family members (r = .43; p = .003).