Artificial Intelligence-Generated Written Communication for Families of Intensive Care Unit Patients

Artificial Intelligence-Generated Written Communication for Families of Intensive Care Unit Patients - A Pilot Study

Our research group has developed an approach for providing families of ICU patients with daily written summaries of care as a supplement to traditional verbal communication. Written summaries describe the patient's main ICU problems and management plan and are delivered to families each day. Despite the benefits of written communication to both the family and clinician experience, the main barrier to implementing this communication approach is the time required for clinicians to create a written summary. For the proposed pilot study, the investgators will ask ICU clinicians to identify patients and respective families for whom there has been a challenge with communication. The investigators will ask ICU clinicians to edit AI-generated written summaries for content and clarity before they are delivered to families. The investigators hypothesize that this process will acceptable and feasible for ICU clinicians and families.

Surrogate Inclusion

• One self-identified adult decision maker for an adult medical ICU patient cared for on the 10W ICU

• Member of the primary ICU team believes the respective patient will require at least three additional days of ICU care

• Member of the primary ICU team has identified at least one communication challenge with the patient's surrogate(s) including but not limited to:

  1. Complex medical issues requiring frequent updates to families
  2. Complex family dynamics (i.e., multiple involved family members)
  3. Increased anxiety/stress of surrogate(s)
  4. Difficult to provide updates to family members because they do not visit ICU regularly or are hard to reach by phone

Surrogate Exclusion

• Surrogate cannot read or understand English
• Surrogate is unwilling or unable to participate in study procedures
• Patient is decisional and refuses to allow surrogate participation

Clinician Inclusion • Advanced practice provider (APP) on the medical ICU team on the 10W ICU

Clinician Exclusion

• None