In-hospital cardiac arrest: what happens to the false arrests?

To investigate the events surrounding false cardiac arrest calls and subsequent outcome in patients who were the subjects of such calls.

A retrospective review of the cardiac arrest audit database pertaining to all false cardiac arrest calls logged by the hospital telephone switchboard at a London Teaching Hospital over a 22-month period.

There were 59 false cardiac arrest calls. Of these 30 calls were immediately rescinded and 29 calls were erroneous. An abnormality of heart rhythm was the commonest cause for an erroneous call. Other important causes included epileptic seizure and hypovolaemia secondary to blood loss (whether due to medical or surgical causes). Three patients who were the subject of a rescinded call and 4 patients who were the subject of an erroneous call died in hospital without going home. Life table analysis revealed that for every 10 false arrests, eight patients were alive at 24 h, six patients were alive at 6 weeks, four patients were alive at 6 months and three patients were alive at 1 year.

There is a need for a wider appreciation of the significance of false cardiac arrest calls.