Healthcare Professionals' Experiences and Attitudes Towards Family-witnessed Resuscitation: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: Family-witnessed resuscitation (FWR) offers the option for family to be present during a cardiac arrest, which has been proven to help them in their grieving process. International guidelines highlight the importance of FWR, but this has not yet been widely implemented in clinical practice in Europe.

Aim: Explore nurses' and physicians' experiences and attitudes toward FWR in cardiac care units.

Methods: Cross-sectional web-based multicentre survey study including the seven university hospitals in Sweden, with 189 participants.

Results: The most common concern was that the resuscitation team may say things that are upsetting to the family member during resuscitation, with 68% agreeing with this statement. Physicians opposed FWR more strongly than nurses (3.22 vs. 2.93, p < .001). Twenty-five percent stated that family should not be present during resuscitation, as it would be far too painful for them, while 23% of the nurses and 11% of the physicians considered that FWR is beneficial to the patient, p < 0.001. There was strong agreement that there should always be a healthcare professional dedicated to take care of family (92%). None of the hospitals had local guidelines regarding FWR.

Conclusion: Many concerns still exist in relation to FWR, suggesting that those barriers must be taken into consideration when planning for implementation of FWR in everyday practice.