From the Departments of Medicine (DKH) and Nursing (JET), Kingston General Hospital, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario Canada (DKH, CJO); the Department of Medicine, Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Center, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (GMR); the Program in Critical Care Medicine and Center for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences, St. Paul’s Hospital and University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (PMD); the Department of Public Health Sciences and Division of Critical Care Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (DJK); Critical Care Research, Royal Alexandra Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (EK); the Departments of Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (DJC); and the Critical Care Program, Health Corporation of St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada (SP).
Address requests for reprints to: Daren K. Heyland, MD, Angada 3, Kingston General Hospital, Kingston, Ontario K7L 2V7, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]
Dr. Heyland is a Career Scientist with the Ontario Ministry of Health. Dr. Cook is an Investigator for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Increasing the quality and quantity of physician-patient communication may lead to the greatest increase in the satisfaction of family members whose loved ones are cared for in the intensive care unit setting.
Supported, in part, by the Canadian Intensive Care Foundation and Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Center Research Foundation.
