Attitudes Toward and Beliefs About Family Presence: A Survey of Healthcare Providers, Patients’ Families, and Patients

Abstract

Background Although some healthcare providers remain hesitant, family presence, defined as the presence of patients’ family members during resuscitation and/or invasive procedures, is becoming an accepted practice. Evidence indicates that family presence is beneficial to patients and their families. Objectives To describe and compare the beliefs about and attitudes toward family presence of clinicians, patients’ families, and patients. Methods Clinicians, patients’ families, and patients in the emergency department and adult and neonatal intensive care units of a 300-bed urban academic hospital were surveyed. Results Surveys were completed by 202 clinicians, 72 family members, and 62 patients. Clinicians had positive attitudes toward family presence but had concerns about safety, the emotional responses of the family members, and performance anxiety. Nurses had more favorable attitudes toward family presence than physicians did. Patients and their families had positive attitudes toward family presence. Conclusions Family presence is beneficial to patients, patients’ families, and healthcare providers. As family presence becomes a more accepted practice, healthcare providers will need to accommodate patients’ families at the bedside and address the barriers that impede the practice.

Evaluation of attitude of doctors and nurses of emergency department toward presence of patients’ relatives during cardiopulmonary resuscitation in selected emergency department centers in Urmia, Iran

“…[11][12][13][14] In the present study, 42.2% of the physicians and nurses believed that the relatives of the patient were more likely to tolerate the grief process after experiencing FPDR, although 41.2% of the participants disagreed with this idea, on the other hand, 75% of the participants in the survey believed that the FPDR process might create a traumatic experience (a psychological disorder) among the family members of the patient and only 4.9% of the participants disagreed.A study by Duran et al showed that the FPDR could be a great help to deal with the pain of losing the loved ones for the family members; the patient and the family also welcomed this, however this requires providing emotional support, explaining and interpreting the CPR operation during and after the process, as the lack of proper conditions and the presence of staff and space constraints may create problems for the process. 23 The findings in the present study revealed that many physicians and nurses were opposed to the presence of family members during the resuscitation process, and the number of individuals who agreed to this was much lower, while in some studies physicians and nurses were satisfied with the conditions. This can be due to cultural differences and the conditions and also the place where the resuscitation process is performed.…”

Family presence during resuscitation in a paediatric hospital: health professionals’ confidence and perceptions

“…This is different from previous studies that indicated nurses held more positive views of family presence (Jefferson & Paterson , Duran et al . , Kuzin et al . , Perry ).…”

“…, Duran et al . ). Critical care areas have typically included emergency and intensive care settings, while non‐critical care areas have included medical and surgical wards.…”

Respiratory isolation for tuberculosis: the experience of Indigenous peoples on the Canadian prairies

“…34 Research has drawn strong linkages between social support and physical health, 35 as well as between patients' access to family members and their levels of comfort and wellbeing during the process of physical healing. 36 On the contrary, enduring lengthy treatment for health issues alone or with limited access to friends and family can result in negative impacts on patients and their loved ones. 12,37,38 Participants, and in particular mothers, described disconnection from family as being an incredibly difficult experience, and even more so for those participants from remote and isolated reserves who had to be flown out of their communities.…”