Reporting in pediatric resuscitation: Get with the guidelines-resuscitation registry

Abstract

High quality CPR and post-resuscitation care is associated with improved survival and functional outcomes following pediatric cardiac arrest. The evidence suggests that the quality of in-hospital resuscitation often does not achieve current resuscitation guideline targets and poor quality CPR contributes to poor patient outcomes. The Get With the Guidelines- Resuscitation (GWTG-R) database is a national evidence-based hospital quality improvement and patient safety program focused on improving resuscitation following cardiac arrest. Registry participation is voluntary with an annual fee that includes data support and report generation. The primary purpose of GWTG-R is to improve outcomes from in-hospital cardiac arrests through individual hospital cardiac arrest resuscitation process and outcome measurement. A secondary purpose is to generate a large, multi-institutional database of adult and pediatric cardiac arrests that facilitates comparison between the international consensus on resuscitation science and treatment recommendations with the actual implementation of guidelines and resultant outcomes. Limitations of the dataset include the lack of illness severity scores, risk-adjusted classification for congenital heart surgery scoring, and long-term neurologic, behavioural and functional outcome data. Exciting prospects for the future include linkage with other existing large databases such as the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) and Society for Thoracic Surgery (STS) databases.