Page 127 - Petelin, Ana, ur. 2024. Zdravje delovno aktivnih in starejših odraslih / Health of Working-Age and Older Adults. Zbornik povzetkov z recenzijo ▪︎ Book of Abstracts. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press

Family members attitudes towards being present during resuscitation
of their relatives: an integrative literature review

Ines Dujc, Jakob Renko, Igor Karnjuš
University of Primroska Faculty of Health sciences, Izola, Slovenia

Introduction: Family presence during resuscitation means that family members have the
opportunity to be present and observe the resuscitation of their loved one by health-
care professionals, but this practice is still not well accepted in clinical settings and
remains a matter of debate. The aim of the literature review was to determine the
attitudes of family members towards their presence during the cardiopulmonary re-
suscitation of their loved ones and which factors influence these attitudes.
Methods: A systematic review of the scientific literature was performed. The interna-
tional databases PubMed, Wiley and ScienceDirect were used. We used the follow-
ing search strategy: ‘relatives’ OR ‘family members’ AND ‘family present during re-
suscitation’ OR ‘family witnessed resuscitation’. Inclusion criteria were the availability
of full-text, original scientific articles in English and publication between 1 January 2014
and 1 January 2024. We used the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tool to assess
the quality of each study. The literature search was conducted from 1 February to 20
March 2023. The flow of the literature search is shown in the PRISMA flowchart. A
content analysis of the results was performed.
Results: Out of 237 identified hits, 10 articles were included in the final analysis. Based
on an integrative literature review, we found that family members mostly want to be
present when their relatives are resuscitated. This view is influenced by several fac-
tors, the most prominent of which is past experience of being present during the re-
suscitation of their relatives. Other factors influencing attitudes are: emotional con-
nection and support, physical proximity, ease of coping with grief and transparency of
treatment options.
Discussion and conclusions: The presence of family members during cardiopulmonary
resuscitation is often a preferred practice by relatives, with various factors having a
significant influence on their attitudes. These findings highlight the need to consider
family members’ preferences when designing cardiopulmonary resuscitation practic-
es, which may improve the experience of patients and their relatives and contribute
to a more holistic approach in clinical settings. In the future, it would be worthwhile to problemi, izzivi in priložnosti na področju zdravja ... | concerns, challenges and opportunities in the health ...
extend the study to a wider general population.
Keywords: family members, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, presence during resusci-
tation

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