How to Comfort a Patient During CPR

CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is administered when a person's heart stops beating. The lay rescuer performs a series of fast, hard chest compressions to keep blood flowing through the body and to the brain. A trained rescuer may use an automatic external defibrillator (AED) to attempt to shock the heart back into a life-sustaining rhythm. Most people who receive CPR are unconscious throughout the process and have no memory of it afterwards, but there are exceptions.

Things You'll Need

• Person delegated to be the liaison between medical team, patient, and family

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Instructions

• 1

  Delegate one person such as a nurse, chaplain, or social worker to act as the liaison among the patient's family and friends, the medical team, and the patient. Performing CPR on a patient is a very intense experience for the hospital staff, and the people who are involved in trying to help the patient don't have much time for comforting words or touch.

• 2

  Be aware of the near death experience. In a 2001 study in the Netherlands published in the Lancet, 18 percent of patients in Dutch hospitals who survived cardiac arrest reported a near death experience. That experience often involved feeling as if they were outside their bodies as they watched the medical team work on them. This suggests that resuscitation attempts should be kept as calm and professional as possible with no rude remarks about the patient or his or her family.

• 3

  Allow the family to be present. Even an unconscious patient may gain some comfort from having one or two close family members at bedside during CPR. According to a 2010 American Association of Critical Care Nurses Practice Alert, families want to be there. The appointed liaison can be a huge help in coaching families about what they will see and hear and the importance of following the medical team's orders.

• 4

  Help the family say goodbye. According to a 2010 article in Australia's Inside Story, 85 percent of hospital resuscitation attempts end with the patient's death. When the physician is close to "calling" or ending the code, he or she should speak to the family directly or let the liaison know. The liaison can then model ways for the family to say goodbye to their loved one both before and after the medical team has stopped CPR.

• 5

  Sometimes, a patient will regain partial consciousness during parts of CPR. The healthcare provider who sees a flicker of consciousness should speak to the patient directly, telling the patient where he or she is and what is happening and reassuring the patient that the medical team is doing everything in their power to help him or her. The liaison can also be brought in to comfort the patient until the patient either loses consciousness or stabilizes.