Prehospital DNR orders: What do physicians in Washington know?

OBJECTIVES: To assess whether physicians know of Washington State's prehospital do-not-resuscitate (DNR) policy, 6 years after its implementation. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Washington State, April 2001. PARTICIPANTS: Four hundred seventy-one practicing physicians. MEASUREMENTS: Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine relationships between physician and practice characteristics with knowledge of policies governing advance care planning. RESULTS: Among respondents, 60% did not know that Washington State requires an emergency medical service (EMS)-specific DNR order authored by a physician. Seventy-nine percent did not know that patient-authored advance directives apply only in hospitals and medical offices. CONCLUSION: The findings in this study suggest that most physicians in Washington State lack knowledge about the documentation needed for EMS personnel to forgo pre-hospital attempts at cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Further study is needed to determine whether physician education or legislative change is necessary.