title: A qualitative study about experiences and emotions of emergency medical technicians and out-of-hospital emergency nurses after performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation resulting in death.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the experiences, emotions and coping skills among emergency medical technicians and emergency nurses after performing out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation manoeuvres resulting in death.
  
  
  METHODS
  An exploratory qualitative research was performed. Seven emergency medical technicians and six emergency nurses were selected by non-probability sampling among emergency medical system workers. The meetings took place up to information saturation, achieved after six individual interviews and a focal group. The meetings were then transcribed and a manual and inductive analysis of the contents performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After a failed resuscitation several short and long-term reactions appear. They can be negatives, such as sadness or uncertainty, or positives, such as the feeling of having done everything possible to save the patient's life. Emotional stress increases when ambulance staff have to talk with the deceased's family or when the patient is a child. The workers don't know of a coping strategy other than talking about their emotions with their colleagues.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Death after a failed resuscitation can be viewed as a traumatic experience for rescuers. Being in contact with the suffering of others is an emotional, stress-generating factor with direct repercussions on the working and personal lives of emergency staff. Nevertheless, structured coping techniques are not common among those professionals.
authors.affiliation: Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Leioa, Bizkaia, España.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fernández-Aedo
authors.affiliation: Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Leioa, Bizkaia, España.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pérez-Urdiales
authors.affiliation: Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Leioa, Bizkaia, España.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Unanue-Arza
authors.affiliation: Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Leioa, Bizkaia, España.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: García-Azpiazu
authors.affiliation: Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Leioa, Bizkaia, España; Hospital Universitario de Basurto, Bilbao, Bizkaia, España. Electronic address: sendoa.ballesteros@ehu.eus.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ballesteros-Peña
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D003643:Death; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians / Q000523:psychology*; D016529:Emergency Nursing; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D058687:Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest / Q000628:therapy*; D036301:Qualitative Research
keywords: Actitud frente a la muerte; Análisis cualitativo; Attitude to death; Cardiopulmonary resuscitation; Emociones; Emotions; Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest; Paro cardíaco extrahospitalario; Qualitative analysis; Resucitación cardiopulmonar