RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Resuscitation of the written word: meeting the standard for cardiac arrest documentation
JF Clinical Medicine
JO Clin Med
FD Royal College of Physicians
SP 348
OP 352
DO 10.7861/clinmedicine.11-4-348
VO 11
IS 4
A1 Neil Allan
A1 Dominic Bell
A1 Alison Pittard
YR 2011
UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/11/4/348.abstract
AB 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.