Family member ride-alongs during interfacility transport

Inter‐facility transfers for advanced critical care services: Impacts on rural families

“…This, along with the small sample size, weakens the methodological quality of this study. However, because the findings by Brown et al align with previously described methodologically sound studies, this study was included in the development of this integrative review. Menon et al completed a small retrospective chart review to determine the feasibility of using telemedicine family conferences to support rural family members during a relative's IFT.…”

“…The quantitative studies all used a cross‐sectional descriptive design and were conducted in the United States . As part of a quality improvement initiative, Brown et al used a closed‐ended survey‐styled questionnaire to evaluate the family members' perceptions of accompanying a critically ill relative during air transport to an urban tertiary care centre.…”

“…The quantitative studies all used a cross‐sectional descriptive design and were conducted in the United States . As part of a quality improvement initiative, Brown et al used a closed‐ended survey‐styled questionnaire to evaluate the family members' perceptions of accompanying a critically ill relative during air transport to an urban tertiary care centre. While the questions in this survey aimed to elicit the family member's perspective of this experience, and an open‐ended question allowed the participants to identify key areas of the experience not captured in the preceding questions, the development of this tool and its validation were not detailed in the article.…”

“…The need to be close to the critically ill family member is a recurring theme in the research literature . In some situations, the need results in the family member sacrificing self, as described by both Brown et al and Johnson, when family members accompanied the patient in an air ambulance despite a fear of flying.…”

“…Two of the included articles were assessed to be of lower methodological quality. In the study by Fulbrook et al, an explicit identification of the methodological approach that guided the study was absent, and a small sample size and associated lack of measurement tool development and validation limited the strength of the findings in the study by Brown et al Because of the low number of retrieved articles, these articles were not excluded; however, less weight was placed on these findings during the conceptualization phase of this integrative review.…”