Health care personnel's attitudes on family presence during resuscitation

Traditionally, resuscitation is done by groups of health care personnel alone where family members are excluded from witnessing this procedure.However, family presence during resuscitation (FPDR) remained a controversial issue worldwide although some recognized professional bodies now offering support to this practice. Objectives: This study attempts to examine the attitudes of healthcare personnel towards allowing FDPR in Malaysia, to determine the association between socio-demographic data and to compare attitudes towards family presence during resuscitation in a different profession. Methodology: A cross-sectional study with simple random sampling was carried out to 180 health care personnel (n=70doctors, n=81 Registered Nurses; n=79 Assistant Medical Officers) working at the Emergency & Trauma Department, Coronary Care Unit and Intensive Care Unit of Sungai Buloh Hospital, Selangor. A total of 153 health care personnel responded with a response rate of 88%. The chi-square test was used to identify the association of socio-demographic data with the attitude towards FPDR among health care personnel. Results: It was shown that 74.1% of health care personnel in this study have negative attitudes towards FPDR. There was a significant association between age (p=0.038) and previous experience (p=0.004) with an attitude towards FPDR. The findings showed there is no difference between professions of health care personnel attitude (p=0.410). Conclusion: The findings clarified that majority of health care personnel in this study have a negative attitude towards FPDR