Thank you for writing your reflections on our article.1 Indeed, nurses’ perceptions of risk, benefit, and self-confidence are not the only factors that influence their decisions about family presence during resuscitation. Many other perceptions and factors can be influential. You mentioned one: no nurse may be available to support the family during the experience. Other factors that may influence nurses’ decisions include patients’ requests that no one be present, the absence of a written policy, a patient’s family member being violent, patients’ families disagreeing about who should be present, a patient’s family member being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and a patient’s family member being a perpetrator of a crime against the patient. All of these factors should be explored in nursing research.
We are far from having a complete model to explain why nurses do or do not invite family presence during resuscitation. Certainly, as you...