Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1-2011

Abstract

Family presence during resuscitation and/or invasive procedures is receiving more attention today as it speaks to the heart of patient and family-centered care. Family members are the most important support for their loved ones during vulnerable times such as a life-threatening event. Although family presence during resuscitation and/or invasive procedures is becoming a more accepted practice in hospital settings, only 5% of hospitals in the United States have unit policies guiding the practice of family presence in specialty settings.1-5 There is a need for family presence to be studied in non-academic hospitals and in other specialty settings such as emergency departments (ED) and adult intensive care units.2 These environments are unpredictable and professionals have varying opinions regarding benefits of family presence during resuscitation and/or invasive procedures in adults. Currently, there is no hospital policy to guide practice of family presence at our 381 bed non-academic hospital in the Northwest. Acknowledging presence as central to patient care inspired our Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) committee to craft a hospital policy providing guidance for the healthcare team to determine when it is appropriate to offer the option of family presence.

Comments

NOTICE: This is the author’s version of a work accepted for publication by Elsevier. Changes resulting from the publishing process, including peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting and other quality control mechanisms, may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. The definitive version has been published in Journal of Emergency Nursing, Volume 37, Issue 2, 2011. DOI: 10.1016/j.jen.2010.02.016


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