Background: Although diaries are an evidence-based practice that improves the quality of life of patients in an intensive care unit and their loved ones, centers in the United States are struggling to successfully implement diary programs in intensive care units. Currently, few published recommendations address how to facilitate implementation of a diary program, and how to effectively sustain it, in an intensive care unit.
Objectives: To discuss challenges with implementing diary programs in intensive care units at 2 institutions in the United States, and to identify solutions that were operationalized to overcome these perceived difficulties.