Development of a Novel Communication Liaison Program to Support COVID-19 Patients and Their Families

Lipworth, Adam D.; Collins, Elizabeth J.; Keitz, Sheri A.; Hesketh, Paul J.; Resnic, Frederic S.; Wozniak, Joanne; Mosenthal, Anne C.

doi:10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.11.016

Cited by 15 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 3 publications

(3 reference statements)

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“…The free-text comments showed a high level of creativity and willingness from the health care professionals to support relatives and assist them with maintaining contact with the patients. This has also been reported by other healthcare professionals (Kanaris, 2020) and several different approaches have been created, both on the ICU ( Cohen, 2020 , Lipworth et al, 2021 ) and national levels (ComuniCovid, 2020; Rose et al, 2020 ). For some of the participating ICUs in the current study, the pandemic entailed general improvements in family care such as daily relative-intensivist conversations, new follow-up initiatives and methods to maintain contact between relatives and patients when physically apart.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

Conditions and strategies to meet the challenges imposed by the COVID-19-related visiting restrictions in the intensive care unit: A Scandinavian cross-sectional study

Jensen

Åkerman

Lind

et al. 2022

Intensive and Critical Care Nursing

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Objectives To examine conditions and strategies to meet the challenges imposed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related visiting restrictions in Scandinavian intensive care units (ICUs). Research Methodology/Design A cross-sectional survey Setting Adult ICUs in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Main Outcome Measures Likert scale responses and free-text comments within six areas: ICU capacity and staffing, visiting policies and access to the ICU, information and conferences with relatives, written information, children as relatives and follow-up initiatives. Results The overall response rate was 53% (74/140 participating ICUs). All ICUs had planned for capacity extensions; the majority ranging between 11 and 30 extra beds. From March–June 2020, ICUs had a mean maximum of 9.4 COVID-19 patients simultaneously. Allowing restricted visiting was more common in Denmark (52%) and Norway (61%) than in Sweden where ICU visiting was mostly denied except for dying patients (68%), due to a particular increased number of COVID-19 patients. The restrictions forced nurses to compromise on their usual standards of family care. Numerous models for maintaining contact between relatives and patients were described. Conclusion Visitation restrictions compromised the quality of family care and entailed dilemmas for healthcare professionals but also spurred initiatives to developing new ways of providing family care.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

Conditions and strategies to meet the challenges imposed by the COVID-19-related visiting restrictions in the intensive care unit: A Scandinavian cross-sectional study

Jensen

Åkerman

Lind

et al. 2022

Intensive and Critical Care Nursing

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“…25 Future research could explore how communication between health and social care professionals and relatives when a family member was at end of life varied between different health and care settings, to better understand best practices surrounding communication at end of life during a pandemic. 26,27 Some relatives reflected that they would have welcomed guidance from health and social care professionals surrounding how to prepare children for the death of a relative. It appeared from the findings that such familycentred care was lacking as communication from healthcare teams was predominately focused on clinically-driven care.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A qualitative study of bereaved relatives’ end of life experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

et al. 2021

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Background: Meeting the needs of relatives when a family member is dying can help facilitate better psychological adjustment in their grief. However, end of life experiences for families are likely to have been deleteriously impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Understanding how families’ needs can be met during a global pandemic will have current/future relevance for clinical practice and policy. Aim: To explore relatives’ experiences and needs when a family member was dying during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: Interpretative qualitative study using semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed thematically. Setting/participants: A total of 19 relatives whose family member died during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Results: In the absence of direct physical contact, it was important for families to have a clear understanding of their family member’s condition and declining health, stay connected with them in the final weeks/days of life and have the opportunity for a final contact before they died. Health and social care professionals were instrumental to providing these aspects of care, but faced practical challenges in achieving these. Results are presented within three themes: (1) entering into the final weeks and days of life during a pandemic, (2) navigating the final weeks of life during a pandemic and (3) the importance of ‘saying goodbye’ in a pandemic. Conclusions: Health and social care professionals can have an important role in mitigating the absence of relatives’ visits at end of life during a pandemic. Strategies include prioritising virtual connectedness and creating alternative opportunities for relatives to ‘say goodbye’.

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“…This was recognised as a challenge during the pandemic as most healthcare organisations or government policies directed that visiting was greatly reduced or suspended. There are numerous papers that have described how organisations had implemented similar roles, providing details on the training for people in liaison roles and a checklist to guide how information was delivered (15-17). At a time when organisations were struggling to provide family support, this was invaluable but as we moved from the first to subsequent waves, it was important to determine whether this support adequately fulfilled the needs of families, patients and reduced burden to clinical teams.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the Family Liaison Officer (FLO) role during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Hughes

Anderton

Taylor

2021

Preprint

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Objectives: During the first wave of COVID-19 heavy restrictions were placed on hospital visitations in the United Kingdom. To support communication between families and patients a central London hospital introduced the role of the Family Liaison Officer. Communication within healthcare settings is often the subject of contention, particularly for patients families. During periods of crisis communication can become strained for patients and their families. We aimed to evaluate the rapid implementation of this role to provide guidance if it was required in the future and to explore the potential for this to become a standard role. Design: Service evaluation Setting: Single National Health Service hospital in London. Methods: Semi-structured video interviews with a convenience sample of 12 participants. Data were analysed using Framework Analysis. Participants: Family Liaison Officers (n=5) and colleagues who experienced working alongside them (n=7). Results: Key themes were identified from the interviews pertaining to the role, the team, the impact and the future. Two versions of the role emerged though the process based on the Family Liaison Officers previous background: Clinical Family Liaison Officers (primarily nurses) and Pastoral Family Liaison Officers (primarily play specialists). Both the Family Liaison Officers and their colleagues agreed that the role had a very positive impact on the wards during this time. Negative aspects of the role, such as a lack of induction, boundaries or clear structure were also discussed. Conclusion: The Family Liaison Officer was a key role during the pandemic in facilitating communication between patient, clinical team and family. The challenges associated with the role reflect the speed in which it was implemented but it was evident to those in the role and clinicians who the role was supporting that it has potential to help improve hospital communication, and the work of healthcare staff outside of a pandemic.

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Development of a Novel Communication Liaison Program to Support COVID-19 Patients and Their Families

Cited by 15 publications

References 3 publications

Conditions and strategies to meet the challenges imposed by the COVID-19-related visiting restrictions in the intensive care unit: A Scandinavian cross-sectional study

Conditions and strategies to meet the challenges imposed by the COVID-19-related visiting restrictions in the intensive care unit: A Scandinavian cross-sectional study

A qualitative study of bereaved relatives’ end of life experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

Evaluation of the Family Liaison Officer (FLO) role during the COVID-19 Pandemic

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