Patient and family satisfaction levels in the intensive care unit after elective cardiac surgery: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of a preoperative patient education intervention

Lai, Veronica Ka Wai; Lee, Anna; Leung, Patricia; Chiu, Chun Hung; Ho, Ka Man; Gomersall, Charles David; Underwood, Malcolm John; Joynt, Gavin Matthew

To meet the cardiac service expansion at the Prince of Wales Hospital in 2001, we planned a quality improvement exercise and audit. A designated care team was formed, consisting of a group of ICU nurses who were trained in the postoperative care of cardiac surgical patients, as well as for conducting preoperative ICU site visits. The aim of the preoperative ICU visit was to decrease patients' anxiety levels due to unfamiliarity with the ICU environment and to have a better understanding of the immediate postoperative management in the ICU. As the feedback to the site visit by the healthcare team, patients and family members were positive, a preoperative video was developed in 2002. When severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak occurred in 2003, the video viewings and ICU tours stopped. We did not reinstitute the ICU education intervention after the outbreak.