Objective: Recent international emergency cardiovascular care (ECC) and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) guidelines have recommended that health-care professionals allow family members to be present during resuscitation attempts. To assess whether critical care professionals support these recommendations, we surveyed health-care professionals for their opinions regarding family-witnessed resuscitation (FWR).

Methods: We surveyed health-care professionals attending the International Meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians in San Francisco, CA, from October 23 to 26, 2000, about their CPR experience, their opinions on FWR, and demographic characteristics. The opinions of physicians, nurses, and other allied health professionals were compared, and differences in opinions based on demographics were examined.

Results: Five hundred ninety-two professionals were surveyed. Fewer physicians (20%) than nurses and allied health-care workers combined (39%) would allow family member presence during adult CPR (p = 0.0037 [chi(2) test]). Fourteen percent of physicians and 17% of nurses would allow a family presence during pediatric CPR. There was a significant difference among the opinions of US professionals, based on regional location. Professionals practicing in the northeastern states were less likely than other US professionals to allow FWR during adult or pediatric resuscitations (p = 0.016 and p < 0.001, respectively [chi(2) test]). Midwestern professionals were more likely than others to allow family members to be present during an adult resuscitation, when compared to professional in the rest of the nation (p = 0.002 [chi(2) test]). Health-care professionals disapproving of family member presence during CPR did so because of the fear of psychological trauma to family members, performance anxiety affecting the CPR team, medicolegal concerns, and a fear of distraction to the resuscitation team.

Conclusions: Our evaluation indicated that the majority of critical care professionals surveyed do not support the current recommendations provided by the ECC and CPR guidelines of 2000.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1378/chest.122.6.2204DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

health-care professionals
16
allow family
16
professionals
13
family member
12
member presence
12
critical care
12
care professionals
12
professionals allow
12
family members
12
[chi2 test]
12

Similar Publications

A Patient-Oriented Implementation Strategy for a Perioperative mHealth Intervention: Feasibility Cohort Study.

JMIR Perioper Med

January 2025

Societal Participation & Health, Amsterdam Public Health, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Background: Day surgery is being increasingly implemented across Europe, driven in part by capacity problems. Patients recovering at home could benefit from tools tailored to their new care setting to effectively manage their convalescence. The mHealth application ikHerstel is one such tool, but although it administers its functions in the home, its implementation hinges on health care professionals within the hospital.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Trauma Patient Transitional Work: A Multidisciplinary Feasibility Survey of Planned Behavior Elements.

J Trauma Nurs

January 2025

Author Affiliations: Penn Medicine, Department of Advanced Practice & Trauma Surgical Critical Care (Dr Saucier), Biostatistics, Hearing, & Speech, Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (Dr Dietrich), School of Nursing, Vanderbilt University (Drs Maxwell and Minnick), Nashville, Tennessee; David E. Longnecker Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care (Dr Lane-Fall), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Surgical Service Line (Dr Messing), Inova Health System, Falls Church, Virginia.

Background: Patient transitions in critical care require coordination across provider roles and rely on the quality of providers' actions to ensure safety. Studying the behavior of providers who transition patients in critical care may guide future interventions that ultimately improve patient safety in this setting.

Objective: To establish the feasibility of using the Theory of Planned Behavior in a trauma environment and to describe provider behavior elements during trauma patient transfers (de-escalations) to non-critical care units.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Continuing Education Certificate in Trauma Skills Among Emergency Nurses: A National Sample Survey Analysis.

J Trauma Nurs

January 2025

Author Affiliations: Castner Incorporated, Grand Island, NY (Dr Castner); Health Policy, Management, and Behavior, School of Public Health, University at Albany, Albany, New York (Dr Castner); Stony Brook University School of Nursing, Stony Brook, NY (Ms Zazzera); and Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice, Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, Lancaster, PA (Dr Burchill).

Background: Trauma population health indicators are worsening in the United States. Nurses working in trauma care settings require specialized training for patient care. Little is known about national enumeration of nurses who hold skill-based trauma certificates.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: In contrast to the increased diversity of the US population, historically excluded racial and ethnic groups remain underrepresented in the physical therapist profession. As decision-makers, faculty exert direct influence on enrollment through evaluating applications and determining which applicants are deserving of admission to physical therapist programs.

Review Of Literature: Faculty decision-making in admissions is a cultural process which can reproduce inequities and perpetuate underrepresentation if faculty fail to recognize systemic disparities in legitimized forms of merit.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Health system resilience is defined as the ability of a system to prepare, manage, and learn from shocks. This study investigates the resilience of the German health system by analysing the system-related factors that supported health care workers, a key building block of the system, during the COVID-19 pandemic. We thematically analysed data from 18 semi-structured interviews with key informants from management, policy and academia, 17 in-depth interviews with health care workers, and 10 focus group discussions with health care workers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!