Why so many patients are confused about CPR and do-not-resuscitate orders

09/12/24 at 03:00 AM

Why so many patients are confused about CPR and do-not-resuscitate orders 
STAT; by Lindsey Ulin; 9/11/24 
Inherently difficult conversations are made more so by a lack of physician training. When a patient is admitted to the hospital in the U.S., there’s a standard question physicians like me are supposed to ask: “If your heart stops beating, do you want us to do CPR?” On the surface, this may seem like a mechanic asking a customer, “If your car stalls, do you want us to jumpstart the engine?” Who would say no to this, especially in a hospital? The problem is that this exchange, which we call asking about “code status” in medicine, centers around a closed-ended question. Talking to a patient about their preferences for cardiac resuscitation, intubation, and/or other life-sustaining treatments needs to be a complete, often lengthy discussion, not just a box to check. ...

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