Patient and doctor attitudes and beliefs concerning perioperative do not resuscitate orders: anesthesiologists' growing compliance with patient autonomy and self determination guidelines.

ABSTRACT:

Unlabelled

Background

In 1993, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) published guidelines stating that automatic perioperative suspension of Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders conflicts with patients' rights to self-determination. Almost 20 years later, we aimed to explore both patient and doctor views concerning perioperative DNR status.

Methods

Five-hundred consecutive patients visiting our preoperative evaluation clinic were surveyed and asked whether they had made decisions regarding resuscitation and to rate their agreement with several statements concerning perioperative resuscitation. Anesthesiologists, surgeons and internists at our tertiary referral institution were also surveyed. They were asked to assess their likelihood of following a hypothetical

SUBMITTER: Burkle CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3548687 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature