p19: investigate the effect of family meetings are conducted on the level of consciousness of patients in icu

the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a guided family visiting, as an auditory and tactile stimulation, on the consciousness level of comatose head injury patients. a randomized controlled trial design was used. sixty-four comatose head injury patients were randomly allocated into a control group or an intervention group. patients in the intervention group were received auditory and tactile stimulations for 45-60 minutes by a family member for 14 days. in control group, in routine way, meetings with the family will be every other day for 30 minutes. consciousness level was measured half hour before and after each meeting (twice daily) with glasgow coma scale score and 4 score. the independent t-test results demonstrated that the means of the consciousness level at the first day before intervention had no significant difference in both groups. the repeated measured anova results demonstrated that the consciousness level alterations were significant between the two groups over the 14 days of intervention. the results of the present study provided evidence to support that a guided family visiting could induce the stimulation of comatose patients. therefore, it can be considered as a potential nursing intervention.