Family opinion regarding their presence with the physicians during active cardio-pulmonary resuscitation of their relatives

Abstract

Background: Family presence during resuscitation has been a controversial topic ever since it was first introduced. Despite claims that it may exaggerate the burden on health care workers, this practice is widely gaining attention and a lot of evidence refutes these claims. In fact, a number of international organizations have supported this practice as being useful and with a positive impact on family members. There is not a lot of research in this area in Saudi Arabia and we conducted this research with this aim. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in the Southern Region of Saudi Arabia and 1185 subjects were enrolled. After attaining formal consent, a pre-formulated questionnaire, formulated on themes from the literature review, was given to the subjects which addressed some basic questions about their opinions regarding family presence during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Results: Out of the 1,185 respondents, 174 (14.6%) had witnessed Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) of their relatives while 85.3% had never done so. This study demonstrated that more than half of the family members (58.9%) expressed a desire to be with their loved ones during resuscitation. While 587 (49.5%) people were concerned their presence in the treatment room may interfere in the medical help being provided to their relative, a slight majority i.e. 598 (50.3%) did not agree with this statement. When asked about the psychological impact of witnessing the CPR of their relative, 54.6% (650) people said it might affect them negatively in the long run while 45% (535) did not feel the same. Moreover, 609 (51.4%) did not feel their presence in the Emergency Room (ER) would help the patient in any way while 48.6% agreed that it may indeed do so. 69.8 % of attendants disagreed that they would interfere with the medical process if they were allowed to be present. Conclusion: This study supports that FPDR has shown promising benefits . Therefore, family members must be offered an option to witness the efforts of the medical team and their wishes must be respected and it is the duty of the health care institutions to facilitate this process . Key words: FPDR, family presence, Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, CPR