A Survey of Emergency Nurses' Perceptions and Practices to Support Patients' Families as Surrogate Decision Makers.

Introduction: Family members acting as surrogate decision makers for severely ill patients in emergency and critical care centers face psychological burdens. This study aimed to investigate the actual situation of emergency nurses' perceptions and practices to support patients' families and its structural elements.

Methods: We created an original 25-item questionnaire and surveyed 164 emergency nurses from 64 emergency and critical care centers regarding their perceptions of caring for people making surrogate decisions.