Acute care nurses’ attitudes toward family presence during cardio-pulmonary resuscitation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Introduction: With the rise of family centered care, family involvement into healthcare decisions has increased and stringent visitation policies have relaxed, to the extent that family presence at bedside during invasive procedures and resuscitation (CPR) is now provided by some healthcare organizations. As such policies have become common practice in many countries, this study sought to explore the attitude of acute care nurses in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) toward family presence during cardiopulmonary resuscitation to enhance our understanding the potential consequences of implementing such policies.
Methods: A sample 192 acute care nurses were recruited using convenient sampling. Instruments used were Demographic Data Form, and the Family Presence Support Staff Assessment tool (FPSSAT).
Results: Results indicated that nurses had a positive attitude about family presence. Several answers emerged from the open ended question data. Major concerns of nurses were the safety of patients and patient’ families, performance anxiety, emotional effects on families, and the endangerment of misplacing their abilities while caring for patients.
Conclusions: More research is needed on family presence during CPR in Saudi Arabia. Besides surveying healthcare providers, the attitudes of patients and families should be studied.