PRESENCE

Family Presence during Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

Doente / População Intervenção / Exposição Comparação Desfecho

In 570 relatives of adults receiving prehospital CPR, routinely offering family presence reduced PTSD symptoms at 90 days compared with standard practice.

570

Desenho

Cluster-randomised controlled trial in 15 French prehospital emergency medical service units (8 intervention, 7 control); units either systematically offered relatives the chance to observe CPR for an adult in cardiac arrest at home or followed standard practice; PTSD-related symptoms assessed at day 90 by a trained psychologist blinded to allocation

Desfecho

Proportion of relatives with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-related symptoms at day 90; secondary endpoints anxiety and depression symptoms, resuscitation characteristics, well-being of the medical team and medicolegal claims

ResultadoCPR was witnessed by 211 of 266 relatives (79%) in the intervention group versus 131 of 304 (43%) in the control group. PTSD-related symptoms at day 90 were more frequent in the control group (37%) than in the intervention group (27%): adjusted OR 1.7 (95% CI 1.2-2.5), P=0.004; non-witnessing versus witnessing relatives adjusted OR 1.6 (95% CI 1.1-2.5), P=0.02. Anxiety and depression symptoms were also more frequent in relatives who did not witness CPR. Family presence did not alter resuscitation characteristics, patient survival or emotional stress in the medical team, and no medicolegal claims occurred.

Jabre P, Belpomme V, Azoulay E, et al. Family presence during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. N Engl J Med. 2013;368(11):1008-1018. 10.1056/nejmoa1203366