Death and do-not-resuscitate order in the emergency department: A three-year retrospective study in the Chinese mainland

BACKGROUND: Consenting to do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders is an important and complex medical decision-making process in the treatment of patients at the end-of-life in emergency departments (EDs). The DNR decision in EDs has not been extensively studied, especially in the Chinese mainland. METHODS: This retrospective chart study of all deceased patients in the ED of a university hospital was conducted from January 2017 to December 2019. The patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest were excluded. RESULTS: <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In the Chinese mainland, the proportion of patients consenting for DNR order is lower than that of developed countries. The decision to sign DNR orders is mainly affected by referral, ED LOS, AMI, and trachea intubation.