Healthcare (Commonwealth Union) – In the early hours of the morning, Samina Ali was jolted awake by the sound of her husband, Tim Graham, struggling to breathe. Tim, just 46 years old, was in the midst of a heart emergency.
As a physician and pediatrics professor at the University of Alberta, Ali acted swiftly. She immediately called 911, began performing chest compressions, and made arrangements for their three children as paramedics rushed Tim to the hospital.
Though Tim survived the cardiac arrest and was discharged just two weeks later, the ordeal left deep emotional scars. The family was thrust into a whirlwind of fear and stress that kept Ali awake at night for months.
Ali recalls that the cardiologist shook their hands and said, that it was a miracle, as well as such an incredible outcome. The cardiologist had also indicated that they should be so happy and told them to have a great rest of their lives. Ali had felt however that every time she felt doubt, sadness, or anger, it felt like a betrayal due to their amazing care team telling them that they were so darn lucky.
Looking back, Ali realizes that those overwhelming emotions were normal and indicated that once you leave the hospital, there is no follow-up. She indicated that they have to process all of it on their own. She further stated highlighting the emotional toll that often goes unnoticed after a traumatic event like cardiac arrest.
Ali was required to seek out private therapy, including facilitated family sessions, to cope with symptoms of post-traumatic stress.
She hopes that other families won’t have to navigate this journey alone. As a survivor family adviser for a University of Alberta-led study on the care needs of cardiac arrest patients’ families, Ali contributed to the development of new clinical guidelines. Recently, the study was awarded the 2023 Article of the Year by the Emergency Nurses Association and the Journal of Emergency Nursing.
Matthew Douma, the study’s lead author, an emergency nurse educator, and adjunct professor of critical care medicine sated that traditionally, the advice for emergency services and hospital staff focused primarily on how to deliver bad news to families and they aim to change that.
He further pointed out that their findings highlight that families need to be heard, respected, and acknowledged from the outset. They require accurate information delivered appropriately and timely.
Each year, 60,000 Canadians suffer cardiac arrest outside of hospitals, with only one in 10 surviving, according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. For Ali, her husband’s cardiac arrest was a harsh reality both in her professional and personal life.
“It’s a very different experience being a family member when you’re used to being the one providing the health care,” she explained. “After Tim got home, I’d be up all night waiting for something bad to happen again. I just couldn’t trust that we were safe. And there’s a genetic component to his cardiac issue, so then I was worrying about the kids.”
Ali had felt that the medical staff her family received support form were well-meaning, however some just did not have the training to fulfil their emotional needs.
“We don’t often realize how important that moment is when we ask the family to leave the patient care room, or we rapidly summarize what happened so we can just get them out of the intensive care unit because we need that bed for someone else,” Douma explains. “Those may not seem like very significant moments for health-care providers, but sometimes they can be the most significant for families. Our work is really trying to shed light on those moments.”
In the field of pediatrics and critical care medicine, family-centered care has been a longstanding focus. However, this approach has been largely overlooked when it comes to families of cardiac arrest patients. Matthew Douma, a PhD candidate at University College Dublin and an editor of the Canadian Journal of Emergency Nursing, is working to address this gap through his Family Centred Cardiac Arrest Care project.
