Aubry Hire

AACN reflection
NURS 451

L: AACN Practice Alert: Family Presence During Resuscitation and Invasive Procedures
E: There are two main focuses of this practice alert. The first is that family members be allowed to be with
the patient at the time of resuscitation and during invasive procedures. The second is that all units should
have a written policy regarding having family in the room during resuscitation and invasive procedures. I
was surprised that this was not already a recommendation, it seems like it is beneficial to everyone
involved. I was not surprised by this recommendation, as it seems like I have been hearing about having
the family in the room for a while.
A: The levels of evidence for this recommendation are B and D. I was surprised by this level of evidence,
I would have thought that that there would be a level A or at least a B and a C. It seems like they need to
do a little more research than they currently have, especially because none of the articles were published
in the last 5 years. The most recent article was from 2008. This influences interdisciplinary standards of
care, because now a family facilitator needs to be available for every code-and they must be able to
describe what each person is doing on the patient. This recommendation will allow the family to see that
everything is being done to save their family member.
R: After reading this, I will now allow family members to stay in the patients room during resuscitation and
invasive procedures. This seems to help both the family and the patient in hard situations. I would like to
see some more current and higher levels of evidence to support this change, but at this time there seems
to be nothing that contraindicated this practice. I will make sure that there is a dedicated person to inform
the family of what is happening to the patient. This seems to be a reasonable recommendation that will
help the patient and the family in a very difficult time for everyone.
N: If I have a patient who is having an invasive procedure done, and there is time to ask, I will ask them if
it is ok to have family present. I will follow the patients wishes. If there is no time to ask I will allow the
family in the room if there is a family facilitator who can assist the family in this hard time for them.