CARDIOPULMONARY-RESUSCITATION AUDIT

CPR audit means: let the patient and the overall results talk and say what is good or not in CPR. The key issue of CPR audit is a simple, unequivocally clear uniformily accepted data collection form. In the near future this should be internationally agreed upon and be even better outlined than the currently used Belgian CPCR form. From our CPCR registry database a number of deductions can be made. Time is still the essential issue in the outcome of CPR, both time to BLS and time to ALS, and both being more important in each other's rapid response failure zone: BLS should be performed within 4 min, certainly if the time to ALS is more than 8 min; ALS should be performed within 8 min, certainly if the time to BLS is more than 4 min. Decision trees can be constructed from the registered data to predict outcome during CPR, immediately after CPR and within 6 days post-CPR. Although helpful to the practising clinician, these data should be considered as only one element in the decision whether or not to withhold further treatment. © 1992 Baillière Tindall.