Authors:
Chapman R, Bushby A, Watkins R, Combs S.
Authors notes:
International Emergency Nursing. 2013:online
Keywords:
Doctor, Emergency Department, Family presence, Family Witnessed Resuscitation, Invite, Qualitative
Abstract:
Debate continues regarding the effectiveness of Family Witnessed Resuscitation and little is known about the reasons why staff invite family presence.
Our aim was to explore why health professionals invite or not invite Family Witnessed Resuscitation.
Four themes representing factors that influenced staff decision to invite or not invite Family Witnessed Resuscitation were identified: motivating factors, personal choice, staff judgment, and organisational factors.
Motivating factors described reasons to invite family presence, and staff and organisational factors were reasons to not invite family presence.
Family presence can be beneficial for staff and family and is likely to be motivated by family-specific factors where this choice is appropriate for all stakeholders.
Participants described factors that can impact on the appropriateness of inviting family presence and these need to be considered before an invitation is extended.