When Should Doctors Give Up CPR Efforts?
By: Charlotte Ames
Updated: September 5, 2012
There's no hard and fast rule for how long doctors should perform CPR, but maybe they should work on it longer. Doctors often hesitate to continue CPR after about twelve minutes because it's believed if patients don't respond early on, their overall prognosis is poor.
Now, a new study from the University of Michigan finds that while most patients were resuscitated after a short period of time, about 15% needed about 30 minutes to achieve a pulse.
On a broader level, the researchers found that patients at hospitals where attempts were longer, on average, had a higher likelihood of immediate survival and survival to discharge, even after accounting for differences in overall patient characteristics.
Importantly, patients who survived with longer arrest times did not appear to have substantially worse neurological function at discharge.
Now, a new study from the University of Michigan finds that while most patients were resuscitated after a short period of time, about 15% needed about 30 minutes to achieve a pulse.
On a broader level, the researchers found that patients at hospitals where attempts were longer, on average, had a higher likelihood of immediate survival and survival to discharge, even after accounting for differences in overall patient characteristics.
Importantly, patients who survived with longer arrest times did not appear to have substantially worse neurological function at discharge.
Charlotte Ames is the area's only local Health Reporter and brings you the latest medical health news weeknights. You can catch Healthcast on WTAJ News at 5:00pm and her Health Headlines report on WTAJ News at 5:30pm.