Documentation of resuscitation status in an ambulatory palliative care population: results of a prospective observational study from a tertiary cancer care centre in Pakistan.
BACKGROUND
It was observed in our hospital that a lot of patients with advanced progressive disease were being seen in the palliative care clinics without documentation of their resuscitation status.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the documentation of resuscitation in patients referred to palliative care clinic.


METHODS
Retrospective review of medical records of patients referred to the palliative care clinic was done looking for evidence of documentation of code status.


RESULTS
Only 77 of the 316 patients seen in clinic during this period had any documentation of code status. More than half of these had been referred by the internists who had documented the code status as well.


CONCLUSIONS
As a result of the study, we have introduced changes aimed at ensuring better documentation of resuscitation status.
Hafeez
Haroon
H
Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan. haroonh@skm.org.pk
Anwar
Natasha
N
Sheikh Moeen ul Haq
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002173:Cancer Care Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004282:Documentation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D019370:Observation; D010154:Pakistan; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016414:Resuscitation Orders; D055815:Young Adult