Resuscitation of the written word: meeting the standard for cardiac arrest documentation.

The aim of this study was to audit cardiac arrest documentation within a UK teaching hospital, survey the regional use of proformas for data collection, and consider the need for a standardised national template. A prospective audit comparing cardiac arrest documentation to General Medical Council (GMC) professional standards and the 'Utstein' fields was carried out, along with a survey of regional resuscitation officers for the use of standardised templates. The main outcome measures were the design of 'best practice' template using GMC guidelines and the 'Utstein' fields. An audit of medical notes involving a cardiac arrest call against the template was performed. There was limited documentation concerning process, events and outcome of arrest calls, as well as minimal regional use of standard templates or consensus on the essential content of medical documentation. Documentation of cardiac arrests in the Leeds Teaching Hospitals does not meet the 'Utstein' recommendations to provide enough information for audit of cardiac arrest procedure. The regional survey indicates that this problem is likely to be widespread.

Outcome after admission to ITU following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: are non-survivors suitable for non-heart-beating organ donation?

We have reviewed retrospective data from two large UK teaching hospitals regarding outcome following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and the suitability of non-survivors for non-heart-beating organ donation. Patients were selected retrospectively from consecutive admissions from two intensive care units who had presented following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, to a total of 50 patients in each centre. They had all been resuscitated to achieve a spontaneous cardiac output at the scene, in transit or after arrival in hospital, and required further intensive care support due to cardiovascular, respiratory, or neurological impairment. Eighty-six patients (86%) died in the Intensive Care Unit and only 14 (14%) survived to discharge from the Unit. A further nine (9%) patients died in hospital before discharge home. Four patients (4%) were alive after 6 months and three (3%) were alive after 1 year. Fifty-seven (57%) of patients had active withdrawal of treatment with only four (4%) being potentially suitable for organ procurement having not been excluded because of age, medical history or the length of time to die following withdrawal of treatment. Our results show that only a small increase in donor organs could be potentially achieved from this population. Further work is required to determine whether such patients should be considered as non-heart-beating donors.