Narratives about resuscitation--family members differ about presence.
BACKGROUND
Healthcare professionals disagree about admitting family members into the resuscitation room.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to illuminate family members' experiences and views about being present in the resuscitation room with a relative requiring resuscitation.


RESULTS
Seventeen family members were interviewed. Their narratives were analysed using content analysis. The main theme was interpreted as family members being "afraid of disturbing the resuscitation efforts, meaning that the most important person for them was the patient". Three groups of persons were in focus: patients, family members, and healthcare professionals. The theme related to the patient was "to be caring for the good of oneself and others" describing what family members believed the patient would want and what they themselves would have wanted if in the same situation. The themes related to family members were "to be dependent on the interplay between trusting oneself and advocating the patient and to be sensitive to one's own emotions and to be reasonable". The theme related to healthcare professionals was "to submit to or ignore the guidance of the healthcare professionals".


CONCLUSIONS
Family members differ about their presence in the resuscitation room. Omnipresent in the narratives was being afraid of disturbing the resuscitation efforts.
Weslien
Marita
M
Department of Health Sciences, Lund University, PO Box 157, SE-221 00, Lund, Sweden. Marita.Weslien@med.lu.se
Nilstun
Tore
T
Lundqvist
Anita
A
Fridlund
Bengt
B
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004645:Empathy; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D033262:Narration; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012151:Resuscitation / Q000523:psychology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D035502:Trust; D014789:Visitors to Patients / Q000523:psychology*