Where must family members be during invasive procedures? [Girişimler sirasinda aile üyeleri nerede olmali?]

Aim: To determine opinions of health staff about family's presence during invasive interventions and differences in view points between nurses and doctors. Material and Method: The study included 95 nurses and 41 doctors working in the Pediatric Clinics of Behçet Uz Pediatric Hospital and Tepecik Education and Research Hospital between February and March 2007. Data were collected by using "nurses and doctors' opinions about famil's presence during invasive interventions questionnaire" and analyzed by percentages and Chi-square test. Results: Family presence during dressing was the most frequent invasive intervention approved by the health staff (66.3%-75.6%) and resuscitation and endotracheal intubations were the least frequent ones (1.1%-2.4%) (p>0.05). The nurses and doctors differed regarding the following reasons of why families should be involved during invasive interventions: "Family presence helps to keep the child still and to perform the procedure easily and properly" and "to win families' confidence and to put them at ease" (X2=8.45-p=0.01). The nurses and doctors differed in their opinions regarding the following reason of why families should not be involved in invasive procedures: "feeling worried that families may sue the staff in case any problems arise" (X 2=10.76-p=0.00). There were no written guidelines for family's presence during invasive procedures in the hospitals where the study was performed. Conclusions: Health staff tended to prefer families not to be present during procedures as the level of invasiveness increased. The nurses put more emphasis on family's presence during interventions, winning families' confidence and putting them at ease. The doctors were worried more frequently that families might sue them.