LAUSR

PURPOSE To describe the prevalence of non-beneficial resuscitation attempts in hospitalised patients and identify interventions that could be used to reduce these events. METHODS A retrospective analysis was conducted of all adult IHCAs receiving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in a teaching hospital over nine years. Demographics and arrest characteristics were obtained from a prospectively collected database. Non-beneficial CPR was defined as CPR being administered to patients who had a current not for resuscitation (NFR) order in place or who had an NFR order enacted on a previous hospital admission. Further antecedent factors and resuscitation characteristics were collected for these patients. RESULTS There were 257 IHCAs, of which 115 (44.7%) occurred on general wards, with 19.8% of all patients surviving to discharge home. There were 39 (15.2%) instances of non-beneficial CPR of which 28/39 (72%) occurred in unmonitored patients on the ward comprising nearly a quarter (28/115) of all arrests in this patient group. A specialist had reviewed 30/39 (76.9%) of these patients, and 33.3% (13/39) had a medical emergency team (MET) review prior to their arrest. CONCLUSIONS Over one in seven resuscitation attempts were non-beneficial. MET reviews and specialist ward rounds provide opportunities to improve the documentation and visibility of NFR status. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.