Samenvatting

Background
Family participation in essential care may benefit patients and relatives.

Aims
To examine the needs, perceptions and preferences of health care providers about family participation in essential care in the adult intensive care unit.

Study design
A qualitative descriptive study using inductive thematic analysis. Three focus group interviews with a total of 30 intensive care unit health care providers, consisting of 20 critical care nurses, one nursing assistant, five physicians, three physical therapists and one speech therapist working in three Dutch intensive care units.