Introduction: Family presence during a child resuscitation has become a contentious topic in the recent past. Despite recommendations to create policies to mirror patient and family centered care, family presence during a child resuscitation is not the standard of care. While qualitative studies have provided rich data from families supporting a call for change, very few hospitals have listened to this request from families.
Background: The Emergency Nurses Association (ENA), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) and the American College of Emergency Physicians are all organizations that support family presence during a resuscitation. Despite these professional organizations supporting family presence during resuscitation, it is not a practice routinely implemented by health care providers working in critical care areas. Even with published guidelines to help transition a practice change, hesitation and varying opinions still exist. Several barriers continue and many of these barriers are from health care providers, including nurses. Many providers feel that families can be distracting, cannot handle the seriousness of the situation, increase staff stress, will critique their performance, and may initiate litigation. Staff also expressed worrying of not being able to handle the psychological burden or the raw emotions that may be expressed by the families if they were present.
Method: The sample for this meta-synthesis identified nine research studies published between 1993 and 2018. Using Noblit and Hare’s 1988 approach, a meta-synthesis of these qualitative studies of family presence during resuscitation was conducted. This method comprised of a series of seven steps that overlapped and recurred as the meta-synthesis progressed.
Results: Four overarching themes emerged that reflected the families perspectives: (a) being with you till the end, (b) providing comfort in the midst of chaos, (c) seeing is believing, and (d) finding solace in the unimaginable.
Conclusion: This meta-synthesis begins to represent the experiences of families who have witnessed a resuscitation of their child. The findings from this research help support the need for additional qualitative research, creating standards of care, and allowing families the option to be present with their child during a traumatic event.