Resuscitation of hospitalized patients

Effects of in-hospital resuscitations performed by a trained resuscitation team were studied over a 20-month period during which 1653 deaths were registered. Resuscitative attempts were made in 61 patients with a mean age of 71 years (range 0-86 years). The underlying disease was ischaemic heart disease in 38 cases and most arrests occurred in general wards. Twenty-one patients were initially resuscitated; 12, however, died after an average of 3.2 days while still in hospital. Nine patients were discharged and seven are still alive after two and a half years.