The Results of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

The 3-year cardiopulmonary resuscitation experience at the University of Virginia Hospital has been studied. Three hundred sixty-eight patients who had a cardiopulmonary arrest and were resuscitated were compared with respect to age, type of rhythm disturbance, location in the hospital, time of the cardiopulmonary arrest, and the presence of various disease states. Three groups of patients were formed. Group I (61 patients—16.5%) survived the cardiopulmonary arrest more than 24 hr but died before discharge. Group II (30 patients—8.2%) survived and were discharged. Group III (277 patients—75.3%) survived less than 24 hr or died at the time of their cardiopulmonary arrest. It was found that patients with ventricular fibrillation that occurred on the internal medicine ward between the hours of 7 AM and 11 PM had the best chance of survival. Conversely, patients with asystole that occurred on a general ward (not internal medicine) between 11 PM and 7 AM had the least chance of survival. A very high mortality was found in the intensive care unit, unrelated to the time of day. This reflects the critical nature of the patients' illnesses in this unit.