Cardiopulmonary resuscitation documentation: a survey of 135 medical centers

The pharmacist is an active member of the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) team in many hospitals, dispensing medications, maintaining records, providing drug information, calculating doses, and mixing intravenous fluids. We surveyed 135 emergency department nursing directors across the country to assess the methods of and persons responsible for documentation during CPR. Ninety-five (70 percent) completed surveys were returned, showing that documentations was usually done by a nurse (81 percent), by a nurse and pharmacist (9 percent), by a pharmacist (7 percent), or by others (ward clerks, paramedics, or physicians) (3 percent). CPR flowsheets (83 percent), nurses' notes (7 percent), or other methods (10 percent) including notes on paper towels and blackboards are used to record such information in the emergency department. Most respondents were fairly confident (49 percent) or very confident (48 percent) that they could recreate the resuscitative sequence from the information recorded; 2 percent did not have confidence in the reproducibility of the data. Respondents felt that cardiac rhythms (83 percent), drugs and dosages administered (34 percent), and temporal sequence of events (33 percent) could be more accurately recorded during CPR. A majority of respondents (57 percent) felt that an automated recording system would be useful. We conclude that there appears to be considerable variability in the method of documentation of events during CPR in emergency departments throughout the country. Future efforts in emergency care should include the involvement of pharmacists in the development and implementation of a uniform database for use by field and hospital personnel during CPR.