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Revista de la Facultad de Medicina
Print version ISSN 0120-0011
Abstract
BARRAGAN, Gabriel; NAVARRO, José Ricardo; MARULANDA, Nathalie and SCHMALBACH, Javier Eslava. Quality of cardiac arrest records in cases of medical responsibility, 1999-2007. rev.fac.med. [online]. 2009, vol.57, n.1, pp.5-17. ISSN 0120-0011.
Background. Cardiac arrest must be recorded when occurring during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. There is no official registration form for cardiac arrest in Colombia, thereby hampering research in resuscitation and managing any medical liability arising from such attention. Objective. Analysing the quality of cardiac arrest records in legal cases involving medical liability initiated against general physicians who had received scientific advice from the Colombian Anesthesiology and Reanimation Society's Fund for Supporting Claims (SCAREFEPASDE) 1999-2007. Material and methods. A descriptive, observational, case-series investigation was carried out which included all cases of cardiac arrest involving legal liability in medical situations where advice had been sought from SCARE-FEPASDE. The cases being investigated had been attended by general practitioners between 1999 and 2007. The information was recorded on Excel tables, according to Utstein recommendations. Quality was independently scored by 3 medical experts on medical liability. A format was used for evaluating the percentage of records made regarding 25 possible items. Quality was considered as being high (> 95% item), medium (70- 94% item) and low (<70%). Consensus was reached in cases of disagreement. Results. A total of 83 cases were included. Cardiac arrest record quality was evaluated as being medium in 49 cases (59%), low in 32 cases (39%) and high in the two remaining ones. Conclusions. Cardiac arrest records were evaluated as having medium quality in cases of medical liability and thus did not comply with international standards and Utstein-style guidelines.
Keywords : heart arrest; cardiopulmonary resuscitation; medical records; medical staff.
