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resuscitation
resuscitation
trauma

Let them See: Effects of Witnessing Resuscitation on Patients’ Loved Ones

02 April 2023
Other
02 April 2023
Volume 15 · Issue 4

Abstract

As part of an academic project, the question of witnessed resuscitation and its effects on onlookers was posed and investigated. During resuscitation, a patient’s friends, family or other loved ones may be present and witness the procedure. This literature review was carried out to establish whether seeing this affected their incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder, and the quality of the research around this. Following a search, four studies were identified for review. Synthesis of the data suggests that in many circumstances, patients’ family members and loved ones should be offered the opportunity to be present during resuscitation, and this could have a neutral or positive effect on their wellbeing after the event.

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is the archetypal emergency. Ambulance trusts take a great deal of effort to lessen the morbidity and mortality resulting from OHCA. While nobody could suggest that there is anything wrong with this, it is often forgotten that patients’ friends, family and loved ones are present at many of these emergencies.

Witnessing the resuscitation of a loved one is undoubtedly a traumatic event, and this literature review was carried out to establish current research surrounding the long-term effects of seeing this, assess the quality of this research, highlight areas for further research and make suggestions for UK paramedic practice.

The scope of this literature review will be limited to inspecting the relationship between witnessing resuscitation and the later development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or closely related symptoms. Given the nature of human psychology, there is much that could be written as to what constitutes PTSD, but this falls outside of the scope of this review.

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Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
Witnessed resuscitation
Family
Post-traumatic stress disorder