Presence of family members during cardio-pulmonary resuscitation after necessary amendments.

OBJECTIVE To find out the attitudes of health professionals and family members of the deceased, about a witnessed cardiopulmonary resuscitation procedure. METHODS A cross-sectional analytical study was carried out at Combined Military Hospital Lahore from January 2007 to June 2007. Two hundred and ninety persons related to 190 deceased patients, 40 physicians and 20 nurses were interviewed and were asked to fill a proforma to asses their views about presence of family members during a cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. RESULTS Ninety eight percent of the family members wanted to be there while cardio-pulmonary resuscitation of their patient was in progress. None of the physicians favoured a witnessed resuscitation, while 3 out of 20 nurses favoured it. CONCLUSION This study suggests that institutions should consider establishing programmes of witnessed cardio-pulmonary resuscitation for family members.