title: Comparing attitudes of the public and medical staff towards witnessed resuscitation in an Asian population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the attitudes of the public attending at a local Emergency Department and the medical staff towards witnessed resuscitation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Over a 2-week period in April 2006, we conducted an interview survey on the relatives of patients attending at the Emergency Department of Singapore General Hospital (SGH) via a convenience sampling. We approached 156 people with a response rate of 93.5%. We compared the results with a similar study conducted on the medical staff in the Emergency Department in the same hospital.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Should relatives be present during resuscitation? We found that 73.1% of the public supported witnessed resuscitation compared to only 10.6% of the medical staff (P<0.001). The most frequently deemed advantage for witnessed resuscitation cited by both groups was that relatives would then have assurance that everything possible had been done for the patient. While 68.8% of the public felt that being allowed into the resuscitation area would help in their grieving processes, only 35.6% of the medical staff shared the same point of view (P<0.001). Medical staff were less likely to agree that witnessed resuscitation would strengthen the bonds between themselves and the public (P<0.001). Medical staff were however, more inclined towards the opinion that relatives would have a traumatic experience in witnessing resuscitation of their loved ones (P<0.001) and that the presence of relatives would cause stress to the medical staff performing resuscitation (P<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Locally, we find a discrepancy between healthcare workers and the public towards the concept of witnessed resuscitation. More research is needed on the attitudes of the Asian public and medical staff.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Singapore General Hospital, Outram Road, Singapore 169608, Singapore. marcus.ong.e.h@sgh.com.sg
authors.forename: Marcus Eng Hock
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Ong
authors.forename: Wan Ling
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Jeanette Sng Ee
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Mei
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D011639:Public Opinion; D012846:Singapore; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires