SCCM Resource Library-Family-Centered Care in the Post-COVID Era: What’s New, What’s Old, and What Needs More Study

Pdf Summary

The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) has updated its family-centered care guidelines for adult ICUs, incorporating lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic. These new guidelines emphasize a more inclusive approach to family presence, communication, and clinician support within ICUs. The guidelines highlight two major changes: the strong recommendation for liberalized family presence policies and the removal of specific recommendations for decision-making support tools due to insufficient evidence of their effectiveness.<br /><br />The panel, consisting of experts from nine countries, produced 17 statements focusing on family engagement, support, communication, and clinician support. Importantly, the guidelines advocate for flexible family visitation policies as a default, based on evidence indicating improved family satisfaction without negative impacts on patient outcomes.<br /><br />New recommendations also encourage family participation in bedside care and the provision of psychological and bereavement support, although specific interventions are not firmly suggested due to limited evidence. The guidelines call for the development of structured programs to support ICU clinicians in delivering family-centered care, particularly in the post-pandemic era where clinician burnout is a significant factor.<br /><br />Additional continuity is seen with the continuation of previous practices such as allowing family participation in ICU rounds and resuscitation, offering educational programs for families, and providing ICU diaries. The guidelines uphold the need for equitable care by minimizing barriers related to language and cultural differences.<br /><br />In conclusion, the guidelines aim to create a more flexible, supportive, and inclusive environment in ICUs, improving satisfaction and emotional well-being for families and supporting clinician resilience. These guidelines are paired with a gap analysis toolkit to aid in local implementation.

Asset Subtitle

Patient and Family Support, Quality and Patient Safety, 2025, 0:10:06

Asset Caption

"This article was first published in the Spring 2025 issue of Critical Connections.

The Society of Critical Care Medicine’s (SCCM) recently updated family-centered care guidelines for adult intensive care units contain recommendations and best practice statements for engaging and supporting patients’ families, communication approaches, and supporting clinicians in their attempts to provide family-centered care. The new guidelines review updated evidence on family support and engagement and spotlight optimal family-centered care practices at a time when they have never been more important.

Critical Connections, the critical care industry’s only newsmagazine, provides information on cutting-edge topics in critical care useful to the entire multiprofessional team."

Meta Tag

Content Type Article

Knowledge Area Patient and Family Support

Knowledge Area Quality and Patient Safety

Membership Level Associate

Membership Level Professional

Membership Level Select

Tag Guidelines

Tag Communication

Year 2025

Keywords

SCCM

family-centered care

ICU guidelines

COVID-19 lessons

family presence policies

clinician support

flexible visitation

psychological support

equitable care

gap analysis toolkit

Article

Patient and Family Support

Quality and Patient Safety

Guidelines

Communication

2025

Associate

Professional

Select

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