OBJECTIVE:To determine the rates of immediate survival and survival to discharge for adult patients undergoing in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and to identify demographic and clinical variables associated with these outcomes. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:The MEDLARS database of the National Library of Medicine was searched. In addition, the authors' extensive personal files and the bibliography of each identified study were searched for further studies. Two sets of inclusion criteria were used, minimal (any study of adults undergoing in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and strict (included only patients from general ward and intensive care units, and adequately defined cardiopulmonary arrest and resuscitation). Each study was independently reviewed and abstracted in a nonblinded fashion by two reviewers. The data abstracted were compared, and any discrepancies were resolved by consensus discussion. For the subset of studies meeting the strict criteria, the overall rate of immediate survival was 40.7% and the rate of survival to discharge was 13.4%. The following variables were associated with failure to survive to discharge: sepsis on the day prior to resuscitation (odds ratio T he do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order has become well accepted and widely used in American hospitals, and for the majority of patients who die in the hospital, a DNR order has been written by the time of their death. 1-3 The decision to discuss or execute a DNR order is driven by several concerns: the patient's current quality of life, the likelihood that cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) will be successful, the patient's long-term prognosis following successful resuscitation, and his or her anticipated quality of life following successful resuscitation. 4,5 Although judgments about quality of life are best assessed by the patient, physicians have typically been relied on to provide biomedical information and estimates of prognosis; this is consistent with a shared approach to medical decision making. Information about prognosis can either be communicated implicitly (e.g., "I don't think CPR is likely to help you") or explicitly ("Patients with your condition have a less than 1% chance of surviving to discharge after CPR"). The explicit approach has been shown in two studies to influence patient decisions about DNR orders, 6,7 so it is important that prognostic information be as accurate as possible.[Recent work has shown, however, that physicians are not accurate in predicting the outcome of CPR. In fact, when presented with detailed vignettes of actual patient cases, physician predictions of the likelihood of immediate survival following CPR were no better than random guessing, with an area under the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve not significantly different from 0.5. 8 An analysis with the physician prediction of the likelihood of survival as the outcome variable in a multivariate regression shows that physicians appear to have an underlying cognitive model. However, this model overemphasizes the imp...

Well-designed and properly supported PBRN infrastructures can support a wide range of research of great direct value to patients and society. Increased and more consistent infrastructure support could generate an explosion of pragmatic, generalizable knowledge about currently understudied populations, settings, and health care problems.

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BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to explore attitudes, beliefs, and perceived barriers to risk-based cervical cancer screening through focus group interviews of patients. METHODSWe conducted 8 focus group interviews of women using semistructured interviews. The investigators independently reviewed the focus group transcripts and identified the overall themes and themes unique to each question using an immersion and crystallization approach. RESULTSWomen are in agreement that cervical cancer screening is important and that women should get Pap smears regularly as an important way of protecting their health. They are not open to the idea of reducing the frequency of Papanicolaou (Pap) smears, however, because they perceive annual screening to be successful in reducing cervical cancer mortality. Additionally, they have concerns about test accuracy. Women are distrustful of the rationale for reducing the frequency of Pap smears. Women's previous bad experiences have reinforced their need for self-advocacy. CONCLUSIONWomen are reluctant to engage in risk-based cervical cancer screening. In this environment, risk-based cervical cancer screening recommendations are likely to be met with resistance.