An assessment of resuscitation quality in the television drama Emergency Room: guideline non-compliance and low-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation lead to a favorable outcome?
OBJECTIVE
Two earlier studies found that outcome after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the television medical drama Emergency Room (ER) is not realistic. No study has yet evaluated CPR quality in ER.


METHODS
Retrospective analysis of CPR quality in episodes of ER.


METHODS
Three independent board-certified emergency physicians trained in CPR and the American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines reviewed ER episodes in two 5-year time-frames (2001-2005 and 2005-2009). Congruency with the corresponding 2000 and 2005 AHA guidelines was determined for each CPR scene.


METHODS
None.


METHODS
None.


METHODS
To evaluate whether CPR is in agreement with the specific algorithms of the AHA guidelines. Fisher's exact test and Mann-Whitney-U-test were used to evaluate statistical significance (P<0.05).


RESULTS
A total of 136 on-screen cardiac arrests occurred in 174 episodes. Trauma was the leading cause of cardiac arrest (56.6%), which was witnessed in 80.1%. Return of spontaneous circulation occurred in 38.2%. Altogether, 19.1% of patients survived until ICU admission, and 5.1% were discharged alive.


CONCLUSIONS
Only one CPR scene was in agreement with the published AHA guidelines. However, low-quality CPR and non-compliance with the guidelines resulted in favorable outcomes.
Department for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital of Cologne, Kerpener Str. 62, 50937 Cologne, Germany. Electronic address: jochen.hinkelbein@uk-koeln.de.
Jochen
J
Hinkelbein
Department for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital of Cologne, Kerpener Str. 62, 50937 Cologne, Germany.
Oliver
O
Spelten
Dr. Breidenbach & Dr. Felix Outpatient Clinic, Döringstr. 8, 42115 Wuppertal, Germany.
Jörg
J
Marks
Institute of Medical Statistics, Informatics and Epidemiology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Martin
M
Hellmich
Department for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital of Cologne, Kerpener Str. 62, 50937 Cologne, Germany.
Bernd W
BW
Böttiger
Department for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital of Cologne, Kerpener Str. 62, 50937 Cologne, Germany.
Wolfgang A
WA
Wetsch
D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000592:standards*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000592:standards*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013690:Television; D014481:United States
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR); Emergency Room (ER); Resuscitation quality; Television drama