Dr. Brigitte Cypress Discusses the Focus of Her Research

Family engagement in care for intensive care unit (ICU) patients is essential to ensure patient and family-centered clinical outcomes. However, family engagement remains a challenging and inconsistent practice and an understudied area of nursing science in this population.

For the past 13 years, I have had a sustained program of research to engage families in aspects of care in critical care that help reduce the impact of critical illness and ultimately improve the quality of life of patients and their families. I have conducted five funded family-centered care studies in critical care. Family engagement in interdisciplinary rounds is the least studied aspect of family-centered care in ICUs.

A common thread in my study findings is the barriers to family engagement that include disparities closely linked with social, economic, and environmental disadvantages such as access to healthcare, especially for the elderly, and those facing greater obstacles to health services based on their racial or ethnic group, the reluctance of healthcare professionals and organizational factors such as lack of leadership and support.

Since my appointment at Rutgers School of Nursing-Camden, I have extended my program of research to developing and employing an innovative and sustainable family engagement intervention during interdisciplinary rounds in ICUs called the Nurse-Led-Technology-Enhanced Family Engagement Program (Nurse-TECH-Family) that will be included in the daily standard care of patients in critical care. Data analysis for this current random-controlled trial is in progress.