A Study on the Ethical Aspects of Witnessed Resuscitation from the Perspective of Prehospital Emergency Caregivers

Abstract

Aim: Patients' relatives are routinely removed from the emergency department resuscitation room. One can attribute this practice primarily to reasons such as safeguarding patient welfare, protecting medical personnel and patient's relatives from potential risks. In prehospital emergency medicine, it is often not possible to prevent witnessed resuscitation efforts. Prehospital emergency caregivers responding to cardiopulmonary arrest must focus only on the patient. It is aimed to investigate the ethical perspectives of prehospital emergency caregivers on witnessed resuscitation and to make policy recommendations according to the results of the research.Methods: The study was designed as a prospective, descriptive survey. Between February 18, 2022 and March 18, 2022, the survey prepared for EMTs, paramedics, health officers, nurses, and physicians working in the ambulance service of Kırşehir Provincial Health Directorate was applied face-to-face.Results: The majority of the participants were women, associate degree graduates, EMT, and paramedics, and their career duration was between 6-10 years. When comparing paramedic and EMT responses to the questions, a statistically significant difference was only found in the response to question “Does witnessing the resuscitation you perform in the prehospital area cause a situation that may harm the patient?”. Additionally, the ethical aspects of witnessed resuscitation in the prehospital setting were examined under the headings such as the witness of the family and nonfamily individuals, professionalism, patient privacy and confidentiality, the grieving process, medical staff safety, and nonmaleficence.Conclusions: Witnessed resuscitation in the prehospital setting has many controversial ethical aspects and needs regulations and training in this regard.