title: 'Do not resuscitate' orders. Incidence and implications in a medical-intensive care unit.
abstract: "Do not resuscitate" (DNR) decisions were examined in a medical intensive care unit (MICU) of a 1,000-bed hospital. Seventy-one (14%) of 506 study patients were designated DNR; nine survived hospitalization. Severity of illness, age, and prior health were predictive of DNR orders; race and socioeconomic factors were not. The DNR patients consumed more resources, both before and after DNR orders. Interventions started before DNR designation were continued in at least 76% of patients. Documented justifications of DNR decisions included poor prognosis (59%), poor quality of life (24%), and patients' wishes (15%). There were no written justifications for the DNR decisions in 30 cases (42%). Although willingness to write DNR orders in an MICU and continued active treatment of DNR patients are both reassuring in a general sense, they raise questions about the consistency of treatment plans and goals for individual patients.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003710:Demography; D004282:Documentation; D005065:Euthanasia; D005066:Euthanasia, Passive; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D008875:Middle Aged; D009820:Ohio; D018579:Patient Selection; D040841:Resource Allocation; D012151:Resuscitation; D013812:Therapeutics