Experiences and opinions of health professionals in relation to the presence of the family during in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation: An integrative review

The presence of the family during cardiorespiratory resuscitation efforts has been reported for more than twenty years and, despite a lack of strong evidence of its benefit, the tendency to not permit this practice has been observed. The aim of this review is to identify studies in the global literature performed about the experiences and opinions of nurses and other health professionals regarding the presence of the family during intra hospital cardiorespiratory arrest. An integrative review according to steps suggested by G among was conducted that enabled the identification of four hundred and one articles, of which fourteen were selected. These are indexed in LILACS, IBECS and MEDLINE databases, using the keywords "family," "cardiorespiratory arrest," "cardiopulmonary resuscitation" and "health professionals". The analyses unit used was the theme and the categorizations were given by: health professionals experiences and opinions relationship aspect regarding the presence of the family during the cardiorespiratory arrest attendance. In 57.1% of the selected studies, the professionals responding experienced a call to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with family presence on site. Only two articles (14.2%) reported that professionals were in favor of family presence during CPR, while 57.1% were against this practice; among these were most professionals from Asian countries. It was concluded that the majority of studies are against the presence of the family during cardiorespiratory arrest although there is a trend to implement this practice, the majority of professionals are not supportive, at the same time, they coexist with the practice. Thus, research in every continents that exploring the experiences and attitudes of family members, nurses and other health professionals can broaden the understanding on the subject, as well as provide best health polices practices available for implementation in all attendance services.