Objective: The need for home care rises with the increase of the elderly population and the development of technology. The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of patients requiring home care after intensive care and to investigate the relationship between care burden and empathic tendencies of caregivers. Method: Patients who were discharged from the tertiary intensive care unit and needed home care were included in the study. Demographic data of the patients and caregivers were recorded. The patients readmitted to the intensive care unit and to the emergency department were determined. The Caregiver Burden Scale and empathic tendency scale were recorded with the aid of the nurses. Results: One hundred and twenty caregiver participants were included in the statistical analyzes. The 70.9% of the patients who referred to intensive care unit were diagnosed with dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and cerebrovascular events, while 51.7% of the patients were women. The patients were readmitted to the intensive care unit (50.8%), and emergency department (71.7%), and 37.5% of the patients had decubitus ulcer. There was a statistically significant difference between increase in the burden of caregiving and caregiver’s chronic disease (p=0.002). It was determined that the caregiving burden increased with the increase in patient’s and caregiver’s age (r=0.30, p<0.001 and r=0.21, p<0.05). The duration of care for the patient increased the empathic tendency (r=0.18 p<0.05 and r=0.68, p<0.01, respectively). Conclusion: Since caregivers’ training and motivation reinforced with the implementation of psychosocial support programs may improvd quality of patient care, it would be useful to review health care policies.