The relationship between self-confidence and attitude of prehospital emergency personnel towards family presence during resuscitation

Abstract Background The presence of family members during the resuscitation of patients is considered a controversial issue in the worldwide. The present study aimed to examine the prehospital emergency personnel self-confidence and attitude towards family presence during resuscitation (FPDR). Methods In this cross-sectional study, a random sample of 252 prehospital emergency personnel were selected from 110 prehospital emergency centers. Two main questionnaire was used to collect the data on the self-confidences and attitudes of the prehospital emergency personnel towards FPDR. The SPSS software (version 26) was used to perform the data analysis. Results The results showed that the standardized score of the personnel’ attitudes towards FPDR was lower than the mean value (43.69 ± 19.40). Furthermore, more than 85% of them stated that the resuscitation process was stressful for the patients’ companions. There was a positive correlation between the personnel’ self-confidence and their attitudes towards FPDR (r = 0.52, p < 0.01). The results showed that the smaller numbers of the present family members during resuscitation were associated with the personnel members’ higher levels of self-confidence and their more positive attitudes towards FPDR. Moreover, the personnel members who were highly experienced, had liability insurance, and had attended the advanced resuscitation courses were significantly more self-confident than the other personnel members. Conclusion A large number of the EMS personnel members have negative attitudes towards FPDR. Therefore, it is possible to improve the personnel members’ attitudes towards FPDR and to increase their self-confidence by recruiting experienced personnel and training them for resuscitation in the presence of family, ensuring the timely presence of the support team, and preventing the people from gathering at the resuscitation scenes.