Evidence of Nursing

This article discusses the evidence of nursing and the advantages of family presence during resuscitation. It explores the perspectives of nursing professionals and highlights the benefits of involving families in the care process. The research supports the importance of allowing families to be present during the recovery of their loved ones.

EVIDENCE OF NURSING
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Introduction
A complete electronic search of subsequent references was carried on MedLine, PubMed,
CINAHL, Ebsco, ProQuest, Meditext and PubMed utilizing the words “presence of family
during the resuscitation”, “nurses”, “relatives”, “resuscitation” and “health professionals." Peer-
reviewed articles and journals were used which were based on empirical research. The quality of
the researches involved in the review was evaluated by utilizing Beck and Polit guide to review
the research journals articles. The question was asked on the description of the research
procedure to decide if the findings are of good quality and practical.
The search retrieved 70 journals and articles published between 2015 and 2019. These journals
and articles were mostly review papers and research reports. Majority of the journals and articles
were descriptive and utilized a quantitative approach to recognize the presence of families at the
time of resuscitation. Few journals and articles utilized qualitative approach or experimental
designs. Most of journals and articles were from American, Canada, Britain, France, Australia,
Turkey, Jordan and Germany. Total eight English journals and articles were chosen for the
research. Others were of poor quality and did not fulfill the criteria of inclusion.
Eight journals and articles which were published with the description and initial growth of
presence of families at the time resuscitation were considered. Eight journals and articles were
published between 2015 and 2019 and were involved in signifying the various perspectives of
presence of families during the recovery. The approaches of members of family, advantages of
presence of families and approaches of the nurses at the time if resuscitation will be discussed.
Main Context
The concept of allowing the presence of members of family at the time of resuscitation started at
the Foote Hospital in the USA in the year 1983 (Giles, de Lacey, and Muir‐Cochrane, 2016). It
was when two members of a family denied leaving their loved one at the time of their recovery
and requested to be with their loved one for a few minutes. The American Emergency Nurses
Association in the year 1993 was the first medical firm to create an evidence-based written rules
which encouraged the practice of presence of families during the recovery of their loved one.
During last few years, the options for the presence of relatives or family members during the

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recovery has been highly suggested by several medical companies all over the world (Goldberger
et al., 2015).
The presence of the families during the recovery of their loved one is a significant topic as well
as a matter of debate among nursing professionals (Hassankhani et al., 2017). The literature have
revealed that approaches of the nurses, doctors and family members towards the presence of
family were found to be considerably different. Some nursing professionals feared that the
members of the family might turn out to be traumatic memories while several family members
specified that they prefer to stay with their loved one. Doctors found to be more against the
presence of families during the recovery of their loved ones than the nurses (Lai et al., 2017).
Advantages of Presence of the Family Members during the Resuscitation
The advantages of the presence of the family members during resuscitation are given below:
 It helps to obtain the history of the patient quickly actively supporting the patient
 The presence of the families assists the nurses to deliver complete care to the patient
 It supports the connection between the nurses and family members and reduces several
doubts
 The presence of the families motivates for more professional behavior among the medical
employees during the recovery of their loved ones
 The presence of the families during resuscitation decreases the fear and anxiety of the family
(O’Connell et al., 2017)
 It allows the members of the family to identify that every possible measure are being taken to
save their loved ones
 The presence of the families provides the opportunities to the members of the family to bid
goodbye to their loved ones during their death
 It provides opportunities to inform the families about the condition of their loved one
 It is easy to manage the patient when the families are in the patient’s room
The family presence during resuscitation could help them to realize the reality of the situations
and provide support of their loved one. Two researches had found that the presence of families
during the recovery of their loved one did not delay the treatment or the recovery time and also
did not negatively affected the technical processes or increase the anxiety of the nursing

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professionals. The members of the family were least concerned about the experienced by
themselves during the resuscitation and study support this with evidence that the presence of the
parents during the recovery of their children did not feel the distress levels (Oczkowski et al.,
2015). Moreover, in a research on the members of the family who did not observe the recovery
of their loved ones, it was noticed that they have frequent symptoms of depression and anxiety
was considerably higher than the members of the family who did not observe the recovery of
their loved ones. They were again surveyed after one year and again found that the members of
the family who did not observe the recovery of their loved ones has considerably higher
symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Perspectives of Nursing Professionals
Some of the nursing professionals believe that the presence of families is essential as well as
good both the families and the patients. Three researches found that the presence of families
during the recovery of their loved one did not delay the treatment or the recovery time and also
did not increase the anxiety of the nursing professionals. In the first research, it was found that
62% had positive approaches towards the presence of families during the recovery of their loved
one (Powers and Reeve, 2018). In the second research, almost 100 nursing professionals were
interviewed, and it was found that almost 75% agreed the members of family must be present at
the time of recovery of their loved one. In the third study, 70% and 62% of the nursing
professionals agreed that the presence of families is essential both for the patients and the
families respectively. The presence of families is also beneficial for the grieving procedure if the
recovery of their loved ones is unsuccessful (Twibell et al., 2018).
Conclusion
It could be concluded that the families must be permitted to be present during the recovery of a
loved one. The research supported the benefits of the presence of families during the recovery of
their loved ones which includes knowing every possible ways to save their loved ones and
helping the patient. These findings highlighted the significance of giving the loved ones the
confidence as families are present at the time of acute care of the loved ones. The presence of
family members has positive impacts on the care of the loved one in accordance to the providers
of healthcare approving that the presence of the members the family can assure the loved ones
that the best care is being given to them. Some providers of healthcare recommended for written

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rules to permit the families and some of them approved a nurse facilitator to assess the eagerness
of the family members.

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References
Giles, T., de Lacey, S. and Muir‐Cochrane, E., 2016. Factors influencing decision‐making
around family presence during resuscitation: a grounded theory study. Journal of advanced
nursing, 72(11), pp.2706-2717.
Goldberger, Z.D., Nallamothu, B.K., Nichol, G., Chan, P.S., Curtis, J.R. and Cooke, C.R., 2015.
Policies are allowing family presence during resuscitation and patterns of care during in-hospital
cardiac arrest. Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, 8(3), pp.226-234.
Hassankhani, H., Zamanzadeh, V., Rahmani, A., Haririan, H. and Porter, J.E., 2017. Family
Presence during Resuscitation: A Double‐Edged Sword. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 49(2),
pp.127-134.
Lai, M.K., Aritejo, B.A., Tang, J.S., Chen, C.L. and Chuang, C.C., 2017. Predicting medical
professionals’ intention to allow family presence during resuscitation: A cross sectional
survey. International journal of nursing studies, 70, pp.11-16.
O’Connell, K., Fritzeen, J., Guzzetta, C.E., Clark, A.P., Lloyd, C., Scott, S.H., Aldridge, M.D.
and Kreling, B., 2017. Family presence during trauma resuscitation: family members’ attitudes,
behaviors, and experiences. American Journal of Critical Care, 26(3), pp.229-239.
Oczkowski, S.J., Mazzetti, I., Cupido, C. and Fox-Robichaud, A.E., 2015. Family presence
during resuscitation: a Canadian critical care society position paper. Canadian respiratory
journal, 22(4), pp.201-205.
Powers, K. and Reeve, C.L., 2018. Factors associated with nurses’ perceptions, self-confidence,
and invitations of family presence during resuscitation in the intensive care unit: a cross-
sectional survey. International journal of nursing studies, 87, pp.103-112.
Twibell, R.S., Siela, D., Neal, A., Riwitis, C. and Beane, H., 2018. Family Presence during
Resuscitation: Physicians' Perceptions of Risk, Benefit, and Self-Confidence. Dimensions of
Critical Care Nursing, 37(3), pp.167-179.

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