Outcomes of a hospital-wide plan to improve care of comatose survivors of cardiac arrest

Summary Background Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) improves outcomes in comatose survivors of cardiac arrest. Few hospitals have protocol-driven plans that include TH. We implemented a series of process interventions designed to increase TH use and improve outcomes in patients successfully resuscitated from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) or in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA). Methods and results Linked interventions including a TH order sheet, verbal and written feedback to individual providers, an educational program, TH “kit” and on-call consultants to assist with patient care and hypothermia induction were implemented between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2007 in a large, university-affiliated, tertiary care center. We then completed a retrospective review of all patients treated for cardiac arrest during the study period. Descriptive statistics, chi-squared analyses, or Fisher's exact test were used as appropriate. A p value