Examination of family views on family presence during resuscitation and participation in end-of-life care in the emergency department

The presence of a family member during resuscitation and maintaining physical and psychosocial support is defined as family presence during resuscitation. Despite the well-known benefits for patients and family members and the recommendations of global guidelines, family members' views are inconsistent in the literature. This study was conducted to examine the views of family members of patients who applied to the emergency department about family presence during resuscitation and participation in end-of-life care. Research: It was conducted in a descriptive, cross-sectional manner in a training and research hospital. The sample of the study consisted of 467 family members of the patients who applied to the emergency department, who volunteered to participate in the study. The data of the study were collected by face-to-face interviews with family members. A clinical psychologist was present at the meeting. It was determined that 61% of family members wanted the option to be present during the resuscitation, 47.5% of family members wanted to be present during the relative's resuscitation and participate in end-of-life care. When the views of family members about being present during the relative's resuscitation and wanting to participate in end-of-life care were compared with their educational status, employment status, and receiving resuscitation training, the difference was found to be statistically significant. (p=0.015, p=0.001, p=0.002)), (p<0.05 respectively). The majority of family members want to be offered the option to resuscitate and with nearly half wishing to be present during resuscitation and to participate in end-of-life care. Legal procedures need to be established in this regard.