Satisfaction of patients and family caregivers in adult intensive care units: Literature Review.

Unlabelled: Intensive care units are hostile places, which must be conditioned to the needs of patients and families, and therefore the factors that influence their satisfaction must be known.

Objective: To update the knowledge on the satisfaction of the patients admitted to an adult intensive care unit and that of their family caregivers as described in the scientific literature.

Methodology: A systematized literature review was carried out in PubMed, Scopus, Cinahl and WOS databases.

Search Strategy: "Personal Satisfaction" and (patients or caregivers) and "Intensive Care Units".

Inclusion Criteria: studies published between 2013-2018, population aged between 19-64 years, English and Spanish language.

Results: 760 studies were located and 15 were selected. The factors that increased satisfaction are: good communication with professionals (n = 5), the quality of care (n = 4), and the cleanliness and environment of the units (n = 2). The factors that produced dissatisfaction are: the infrastructure of the waiting room (n = 5), inadequate communication (n = 4), and the involvement of families and patients in decision-making (n = 4). Training of professionals (n = 5), inclusion of the family during the process of hospitalization (n = 2) and redesigning the waiting room (n = 2) are some of the suggestions for improvement.

Conclusions: Factors related to professionals, environment and cleanliness of the units are satisfaction-generating factors. Factors generating dissatisfaction related to poor infrastructure, a lack of involvement in decision-making and poor professional communication. Strategies to improve patient and family satisfaction relate to the organization, professionals, family members, and infrastructure and environment.