Needs of Patients' Family Members in an Intensive Care Unit With Continuous Visitation.

Background: Although many critical care experts and national organizations support open visitation in intensive care units (ICUs), most ICU visiting policies do not allow unrestricted presence of patients' family members.

Objective: To describe how well the needs of family members were met in an adult neuroscience ICU with a continuous visitation policy and an adjoining private suite for patients' family members.

Methods: An exploratory, descriptive study design was used to identify the effects of continuous family visitation in the neuroscience ICU on patients' family members and their needs and experiences during their time in the unit.