AHA supports family presence
Are you trying to convince your colleagues to allow family members in the resuscitation room? If so, you’ll be pleased to learn that this practice is recommended in the new guidelines from the Dallas-based American Heart Association (AHA).
"We were very excited to see the American Heart Association make a statement about the practice of family presence," says Theresa Meyers, RN, BSN, CEN, CCRN, director of the ED at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, one of the first facilities to implement a family presence policy. "It will be very helpful for health care providers at institutions that are resistant to this practice to have the recommendation from the AHA."
Meyers is hopeful that the recommendation will encourage further research into the practice of having family members at the bedside during resuscitations and invasive procedures. "This is especially important in the area of prehospital care where the practice occurs frequently," she notes.
Family presence is gaining momentum and recognition every day, according to Laurie Cook, RN, the ED nurse manager at Presbyterian. "Some indications of this include people calling us weekly who are initiating their own research regarding family presence, medical groups wanting presentations, and ongoing discussions in the break room of the ED by nursing staff," she says.
You can encourage this practice in many ways, urges Cook. "Set up protocols in your ED, have ongoing education about this at staff meetings, give presentations to other departments, such as social services and the medical staff, and initiate discussion by word of mouth."
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