The epidemic of physician-family conflict in the ICU and what we should do about it

摘要

The ICU is a stressful environment where difficult and emotionally charged discussions occur on a daily basis; it is no wonder then that perceptions of conflict are so common in critical care settings (1, 2). Although variability in perception of conflict among ICU clinicians has been documented (3), there is limited information addressing the relationship between physician and family perspectives about conflict. In this issue of Critical Care Medicine, Schuster et al (4) investigate the degree of agreement between physicians and family members regarding conflict in the ICU and identify predictors of physician-family conflict.