Support for parents witnessing resuscitation: nurse perspectives

The Royal College of Nursing recommends that appropriately trained healthcare professionals should support relatives who express a wish to witness resuscitation. The aim of this research was to identify the knowledge and experience of family-witnessed resuscitation of children's nurses.

A postal questionnaire was used to collect data from a non-probability convenience sample of 94 children's nurses working in three acute paediatric areas in one hospital trust. A total of 32 nurses responded.

Two thirds of respondents expressed a positive attitude towards family-witnessed resuscitation. Twenty four had been involved in the resuscitation of a child; family members had been present in 20 of these cases. Most of these children's nurses felt able to be 'the experienced support person' required in the national guidance. Irrespective of seniority, the nurses who responded reported a lack of education and knowledge about family-witnessed resuscitation, but this was more apparent among the more junior staff. Nurses also reported an increased stress during a family-witnessed resuscitation situation and suggested formal counselling and informal discussions/debriefing sessions should be provided for staff and parents.

Recommendations related to staff who support family members during resuscitation attempts need to be more widely implemented. In particular, the lack of education of children's nurses about family-witnessed resuscitation should be addressed to help improve the care of parents who witness resuscitation of their child.