Should Family be Allowed During Resuscitation

Abstract

The practice of family presence during resuscitation provides the opportunity to the family members to atend visually and physically with the patient during resuscitation. The concept of family presence during resuscitation empowers the family-centred care philosophy. However, allowing families during resuscitation is controversial among health care providers. Using predeined search terms, a systematic search was carried out on CINAHL, PubMed, Proquest, Meditext, Ebsco and MedLine. Of the references identiied, 35 studies were identiied that met the inclusion criteria. The included studies clearly highlight. The family members revealed a desire to their presence during resuscitation and indicated further beneits of their presence. Health care providers had diferent opinions, some refused the practice indicating that it would be ofensive and may interfere with the treatment. Others believed that it would positively afect patient care and would reassure family that the best care is being provided. Both family members and health care providers showed a need for educational programs and writen policies to facilitate family presence during resuscitation.

The Healthcare Staffs’ Perception of Parents’ Participation in Critical Incidents at the PICU, a Qualitative Study

“…Parents are an essential piece of the puzzle to achieve good quality in the care of the sick child, regardless of whether there is a critical situation or not. Twibell et al [5] and Al Mutair [6] describes how health care staff with previous experience of parents' participation are more positive about participation in similar situations later. This might indicate that staff needs to practice caring for parents in critical situations and training in medical tasks.…”

“…Lack of experience in similar situations is also described as a reason for exclusion [3,4]. After experiencing a critical situation with parents present, nurses' and physicians' confidence grows, and anxiety decreases, and they become more likely to offer parents to participate [5,6]. Allowing parents to participate while experiencing that nothing vital to the child was missing eased the nurses' conscience [6].…”

“…Research suggests that this hesitance builds on a misguided perception that the presence of parents could create stress and anxiety [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. When parents instead are given a possibility to participate, they may give quick access to the child’s health history [ 6 , 7 ]. Therefore, we addressed the health care staff’s perception of parents’ participation in critical situations.…”

“…The focus should also be on seeing the child as part of a family [ 14 ], enabling children to have a parent or other close relative with them whenever they want [ 12 , 15 ]. Nurses tend to be more likely to involve parents than physicians [ 3 , 6 , 8 ].…”

“…The increased anxiety parents may feel and the fear of what their child is going through is described as reasons to exclude them [ 4 , 6 ]. There is also a belief that parents could influence medical decisions [ 4 ].…”