European cardiovascular nurses' experiences of and attitudes towards having family members present in the resuscitation room
Received 21 April 2009; received in revised form 6 October 2009; accepted 10 October 2009. published online 05 November 2009.
Abstract
Purpose
To investigate cardiovascular nurses' experiences of and attitudes towards the presence of family members during resuscitation of adult patients.
Methods
A 36-item questionnaire exploring the experiences of and attitudes towards family members being present in the resuscitation room was distributed to a convenience sample of nurses attending three national and one international cardiovascular nursing conferences held in Europe during 2007.
Results
Of 820 questionnaires distributed, 411(50%) completed ones were returned. Of these 411 respondents, 178 (44%) had experienced at least one situation of families being present. Positive (23%) and negative (21%) experiences of family presence were equally distributed. Only 28 (7%) respondents stated that their unit had a protocol covering family presence. Nurses in Ireland (n=30; 59%) and the UK (n=18; 55%) were most likely to have experienced family presence and protocols relating to this were most commonly found in the UK (n=4; 14%).
Conclusion
Less than half of the included European cardiovascular nurses had experienced a situation of families being present during resuscitation and protocols pertaining to this were rare. There was no clear attitude towards family presence, though experience in nursing made nurses more favourable towards it.
aInstitute of Health and Caring Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, Sweden
bSchool of Health Sciences and Social Work, Växjö University, Sweden
cCenter for Health Services and Nursing Research, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
dSchool of Health Sciences, Jönköping University, Sweden
eInstitute of Nursing, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
fDepartment of Cardiology, NHS Tayside & School for Nursing and Midwifery, University of Dundee, Scotland, UK
gDepartment of Medical and Health Sciences, Division of Nursing Science, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
hDepartment of Health Sciences and Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, UK
iDepartment of Heart Disease, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
Corresponding author. Institute of Health and Caring Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, Box 557, SE 405 30 Göteborg, Sweden. Tel.: +46 773 23 31.
ABSTRACT