Family presence during cardiopulmonary resuscitation and invasive procedures in children

OBJECTIVE To identify literature evidences related to actions to promote family's presence during cardiopulmonary resuscitation and invasive procedures in children hospitalized in pediatric and neonatal critical care units. DATA SOURCES Integrative literature review in PubMed, SciELO and Lilacs databases, from 2002 to 2012, with the following inclusion criteria: research article in Medicine, or Nursing, published in Portuguese, English or Spanish, using the keywords "family", "invasive procedures", "cardiopulmonary resuscitation", "health staff", and "Pediatrics". Articles that did not refer to the presence of the family in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and invasive procedures were excluded. Therefore, 15 articles were analyzed. DATA SYNTHESIS Most articles were published in the United States (80%), in Medicine and Nursing (46%), and were surveys (72%) with healthcare team members (67%) as participants. From the critical analysis, four themes related to the actions to promote family's presence in invasive procedures and cardiopulmonary resuscitation were obtained: a) to develop a sensitizing program for healthcare team; b) to educate the healthcare team to include the family in these circumstances; c) to develop a written institutional policy; d) to ensure the attendance of family's needs. CONCLUSIONS Researches on these issues must be encouraged in order to help healthcare team to modify their practice, implementing the principles of the Patient and Family Centered Care model, especially during critical episodes.