| A B S T R A C T
Background: Family-witnessed resuscitation remains controversial among clinicians from implementation to
practice and there are a number of countries, such as Iran, where that is considered a low priority.
Objective: To explore the lived experience of resuscitation team members with the presence of the patient's
family during resuscitation.
Design: The hermeneutic phenomenology.
Settings: The emergency departments and critical care units of 6 tertiary hospitals in Tabriz, Iran.
Participants: There were potentially 380 nurses and physicians working in the emergency departments and acute
care settings of 6 tertiary hospitals in Tabriz. A purposive sample of these nurses and physicians was used to
recruit participants who had at least 2 years of experience, had experienced an actual family witnessed resuscitation event, and wanted to participate. The sample size was determined according to data saturation. Data
collection ended when the data were considered rich and varied enough to illuminate the phenomenon, and no
new themes emerged following the interview of 12 nurses and 8 physicians.
Methods: Semi-structured, face- to- face interviews were held with the participants over a period of 6 months
(April 2015 to September 2015), and Van Manen’s method of data analysis was adopted.
Results: Three main themes emerged from the data analysis, including ‘Futile resuscitation’, ‘Family support
liaison’, and ‘Influence on team’s performance’. A further 9 sub-themes emerged under the 3 main themes, which
included ‘futile resuscitation in end-stage cancer patients’, ‘when a patient dies’, ‘young patients’, ‘care of the
elderly’, ‘accountable person’, ‘family supporter’, ‘no influence’, ‘positive influence’, and ‘negative influence’.
Conclusions: Participants noted both positive and negative experiences of having family members present during
cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Well trained and expert resuscitation team members are less likely to be stressed
in the presence of family. A family support liaison would act to decrease family anxiety levels and to de-escalate
any potentially aggressive person during the resuscitation. It is recommended that an experienced health care
professional be designated to be responsible for explaining the process of resuscitation to the patient’s family. |