Important features of hospitals, intensive care unit waiting rooms, and patient care rooms: perspectives of intensive care unit visitors.

Purpose: Family members of critically ill patients spend significant periods of time in the intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital environment. We aimed to identify what services, resources, and conveniences are important to adult ICU visitors.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study including visitors in four adult ICUs in the province of Ontario, Canada. In the survey, we asked visitors to rate the importance of 58 items relating to the environment of patient rooms, the waiting room, and hospital facilities. For each item, we gave respondents five categorical response options, from "not at all important" to "extremely important." We used descriptive statistics to analyze the survey results.

Results: We analyzed 224 surveys completed by ICU visitors (60% female, ages 14-87 yr). Respondents were predominantly children (41%) or the spouse/partner (23%) of adult ICU patients. Nearly half (51%) lived more than 30 km from the hospital, and 30% spent at least one night in the ICU waiting room, with a median of 2 nights (range, 1-20) spent in hospital. Within the hospital environment, the top four items rated as "extremely important" or "very important" were directional signage (82%), convenient parking (80%), discounted parking (80%), and healthy and affordable food (78%). Regarding ICU waiting rooms, 24/7 visitation (92%), convenient restrooms (87%), a water dispenser (83%), and Wi-Fi (80%) were priorities. Features of ICU patient rooms identified as most important included seating for visitors (92%), access to natural light (78%), and access to fresh air (74%).

Conclusions: Intensive care unit visitors prioritized pragmatic environmental elements. Many of these modifications are simple and inexpensive but may significantly improve visitors' comfort and experience.