Evaluation of a strategy for enrolling the families of critically ill patients in research using limited human resources

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evaluation-of-a-strategy-for-enrolling-the-families-of-critically-ill-patients-in-research-using-limited-human-resources

Family members were recruited for more than one third of eligible patients, and >90% of approached consented to participate. There are important demographic differences between patients with vs without an enrolled family member. The primary outcome was the proportion of eligible patients for whom ≥1 family member was enrolled. Secondary outcomes included enrollment of legal healthcare proxies, the consent rate among families approached for enrollment, and success rates for recruiting at different times during the day and week. Over 96 days, there were 369 admissions to the medical ICU for 343 unique patients (Fig 1). There were 59 (17%) patients discharged within 24 hours of ICU admission, leaving the families of 284 patients eligible for enrollment.

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