Family presence during resuscitation in a paediatric hospital: health professionals’ confidence and perceptions

Aims and objectives To investigate medical and nursing staff's perceptions of and self‐confidence in facilitating family presence during resuscitation in a paediatric hospital setting. Background Family presence during resuscitation is the attendance of family members in a location that affords visual or physical contact with the patient during resuscitation. Providing the opportunity for families to be present during resuscitation embraces the family‐centred care philosophy which underpins paediatric care. Having families present continues to spark much debate amongst health care professionals. Design A descriptive cross‐sectional randomised survey using the ‘Family Presence Risk/Benefit Scale’ and the ‘Family Presence Self‐Confidence Scale ‘to assess health care professionals’ (doctors and nurses) perceptions and self‐confidence in facilitating family presence during resuscitation of a child in a paediatric hospital. Methods Surveys were distributed to 300 randomly selected medical and nursing staff. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to compare medical and nursing, and critical and noncritical care perceptions and self‐confidence. Results Critical care staff had statistically significant higher risk/benefit scores and higher self‐confidence scores than those working in noncritical care areas. Having experience in paediatric resuscitation, having invited families to be present previously and a greater number of years working in paediatrics significantly affected participants’ perceptions and self‐confidence. There was no difference between medical and nursing mean scores for either scale. Conclusion Both medical and nursing staff working in the paediatric setting understood the needs of families and the philosophy of family‐centred care is a model of care practised across disciplines. Relevance to clinical practice This has implications both for implementing guidelines to support family presence during resuscitation and for education strategies to shift the attitudes of staff who have limited or no experience.