Comparing attitudes of the public and medical staff towards witnessed resuscitation in an Asian population.
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.
Ong
Marcus Eng Hock
ME
Department of Emergency Medicine, Singapore General Hospital, Outram Road, Singapore 169608, Singapore. marcus.ong.e.h@sgh.com.sg
Chung
Wan Ling
WL
Mei
Jeanette Sng Ee
JS
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