Perceptions of healthcare professionals about the presence of family members during cardiopulmonary resuscitation

An integrative literature review

Abstract

Context: The inclusion of families during cardiopulmonary resuscitation procedures is a clinical challenge. Families are often overlooked in resuscitation protocols aimed at interventions by an interprofessional team, which includes physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, and orderlies. The existing scientific literature has relatively little to say about the perception of the interprofessional team as to the inclusion of families during resuscitation

Objective: The goal of this integrative review is to explore existing papers on the perception of members of an interprofessional team with regard to the presence of family members during emergency room cardiopulmonary resuscitation procedures.

Method: This integrative review of the literature was carried out using the five-step method of Whittemore & Knafl (2005) comprising problem identification, literature search, data evaluation, data analysis, and presentation of a summary of the data. The research strategy focused on three key concepts: interprofessional, family and resuscitation. Scientific papers were found through the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PsycINFO, Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane and the Joanna Briggs Institute ( JBI). To be included

Conclusion: The results of this integrative review offer guidelines for improving the practice of inclusion of families during cardiopulmonary resuscitation procedures. Particular attention should be paid to the initial and continuing training of health professionals. Furthermore, this article allows for an initial reflection among managers and decision makers to promote a collaborative culture as well as a patient-centred approach.

Keywords: interprofessional team, resuscitation, emergency department, family, integrative review