Do not resuscitate orders in an Irish teaching hospital.
A chart review was performed to determine the resuscitation status of all in-patients in this hospital on a single day. A decision not to resuscitate had been made for 11 (3.7%) of 293 patients. Seven of these patients had a severe stroke, two had dementia and one had a malignancy. We identified a further 22 patients who would be unlikely to benefit from resuscitative efforts but who had not been excluded from resuscitation: four patients with major impairment following a stroke, five patients with severe dementia and 13 patients with incurable malignancy. A policy of routinely discussing and documenting the resuscitation status of patients might reduce the unnecessary performance of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
O'Keeffe
S
S
Dept of Cardiology, University College Hospital, Galway.
Redahan
C
C
Keane
P
P
Daly
K
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006760:Hospitalization; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D008875:Middle Aged; D016414:Resuscitation Orders