Daily Telephone Call During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perceptions of Families and Providers.

Background In intensive care units (ICUs), the quality of communication with families is a key point in the caregiver-patient-family relationship. During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital visits were prohibited, and many ICUs implemented a daily telephone call strategy to ensure continuity of communication with patients' families. Objective To assess how family members and health care providers perceived this communication strategy. Methods The study was conducted in a 45-bed ICU during the COVID-19 pandemic. Communication with families consisted of a single daily telephone call from the senior physician in charge of the patient to the patient's surrogate decision maker. Satisfaction was qualitatively assessed via an anonymous online questionnaire with open-ended questions. Results Participants completed 114 questionnaires. Forty-six percent of surrogate decision makers stated that the key medical messages were understandable, but 57% of other family members expressed that the frequency of information delivery was insufficient. Fifty-six percent of the physicians described the practice as functional for the organization of the unit. Among health care providers other than physicians, 55% felt that not having to interact with families decreased their emotional load and 50% mentioned saving time and the absence of task interruptions as positive aspects. Conclusion Fixed-time, daily telephone calls in the ICU allowed satisfactory transmission of information between physicians and surrogate decision makers, as perceived by both parties. However, the telephone-based communication strategy could still be improved.