Demystifying Limited Code

Abstract

Upon admission to an acute care hospital, patients and families are faced with determining their cardiopulmonary resuscitation status during conversation with providers. Medical providers are tasked with providing education and options in the context of the patient's acute and chronic conditions. Misconceptions are common in the general public, and providers may struggle with providing guidance in high-stress situations. Literature review revealed a lack of national consensus on code status definitions. Electronic health records may include multiple options for code status orders, which may lead to confusion for patients and medical staff, resulting in provision of potentially ineffective or undesired medical care. The following discussion will examine multiple cases in a large health care system and a novel way of standardizing resuscitation options using Havelock's change theory. This quality improvement project was approved by the institutional review board.