FICUS in der Praxis: Familienfokussierte Versorgung auf Intensivstationen zwischen Evidenz und Umsetzung

Family support improves care quality

FICUS improves family-reported care quality in adult intensive care, particularly communication, emotional support, and satisfaction with shared decision-making. The intervention does not demonstrate a measurable effect on post-intensive care syndrome-family.

Early, continuous, adaptable support matters

FICUS provides structured family support from ICU admission through follow-up. Early contact, continuity along the care pathway, and adaptation to individual family needs characterize implementation and are associated with higher satisfaction with care.

Implementation depends on ICU context

Healthcare professionals rate FICUS as acceptable, appropriate, and mostly feasible. Implementation is facilitated by interprofessional, family-focused unit culture, clear role definition, and available time and staffing resources; limited capacity hinders sustainability.

In the continuing education event “FICUS in der Praxis: Familienfokussierte Versorgung auf Intensivstationen zwischen Evidenz und Umsetzung,” organized by Klinik Barmelweid, Prof. Dr. Rahel Naef presents the FICUS model as a nurse-led, interprofessional care model for family-focused support in adult intensive care units. She grounds the topic in the high burden experienced by relatives of critically ill patients and refers to post-intensive care syndrome-family (PICS-F), which includes anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and complicated grief. Prof. Dr. Naef describes FICUS as a structured intervention with check-in contacts, supportive conversations, and interprofessional family meetings, delivered along the patient trajectory and extending into follow-up after ICU discharge. She reports results from a hybrid study conducted from 2021 to 2025 across 16 ICUs, showing that FICUS improves family satisfaction with care, particularly regarding decision-making, and has clear positive effects on perceived communication quality and cognitive and emotional support. At the same time, she states that no measurable effect on PICS-F is identified, which aligns with findings from comparable studies and suggests that additional or longer-term interventions may be required. From the implementation perspective, the model is assessed by healthcare professionals as acceptable, appropriate, and largely feasible, while barriers mainly concern time, staffing capacity, and study-related procedural requirements. The presentation concludes that family-focused ICU care is beneficial and implementable, and Prof. Dr. Naef outlines ongoing work on broader scaling in Switzerland and on a digital coaching approach to support future implementation.