Assessing health professionals’ perceptions of family presence during resuscitation: A replication study

Abstract Background Family witnessed resuscitation is the practice of enabling patients' family members to be present during resuscitation. Research is inconsistent as to the effectiveness or usefulness of this initiative. Aim To evaluate the performance of two scales that assess perceptions of family witnessed resuscitation among a sample of health professionals, in an Australian non-teaching hospital, and explore differences in perceptions according to sociodemographic characteristics and previous experience. Design Descriptive, replication study, using a cross-sectional survey. Method An anonymous survey was distributed to 221 emergency department clinicians. Sociodemographic characteristics and perceptions of family witnessed resuscitation using the Family Presence Risk–Benefit and Family Presence Self-confidence Scales were assessed. Exploratory factor analysis was used to evaluate the performance of the scales. Results One hundred and fourteen doctors and nurses returned the survey (response rate of 51.6%). Both Scales were found to have a single factor structure and a high level of internal consistency. Approximately two-thirds of participants considered that family presence was a right of patients and families, and almost a quarter of respondents had invited family presence during resuscitation on more than five occasions. We found no significant differences in scale scores between doctors and nurses. Conclusion Our findings confirm the validity of the Family Presence Risk–Benefit and Family Presence Self–Confidence Scales in the Australian context, and highlight the need to support clinicians in the provision of family witnessed resuscitation to all families.