What is appropriate care? A qualitative study into the perceptions of healthcare professionals in Flemish university hospital intensive care units.

Aim: This study examines when healthcare professionals consider intensive care as appropriate care.

Background: Despite attempts to conceptualize appropriate care in prior research, there is a lack of insight into its meaning and implementation in practice. This is an important issue because healthcare professionals as well as patients and relatives report inappropriate care in the intensive care unit (ICU) on a regular basis.