Data Source

A full description of GWTG-Resuscitation and its development has been previously published.⁹ In brief, GWTG-Resuscitation is a national prospective voluntary registry, sponsored by the American Heart Association, of pediatric and adult patients with IHCA or profound bradycardia requiring CPR. Trained hospital personnel at participating hospitals collect data on all consecutive patients experiencing pulselessness or pulse with poor perfusion requiring chest compressions and/or defibrillation with or without the need for bag-valve-mask ventilation. Patients are identified using a combination of the medical record, cardiac arrest forms, and telepage records. All cardiac arrests at hospitals participating in the registry are included in the database. Collected data include facility data, patient demographic data, pre-event data, event data (including vital signs), outcome data, and quality improvement data. Vital sign data is abstracted from the medical record. All vital signs in the four hours preceding cardiac arrest are recorded. Similarly, GWTG-Resuscitation collects information on all patients with a MET evaluation at hospitals choosing to submit data to both the MET and CPA modules. Standardized international Utstein definitions for defining clinical variables and outcomes are used to ensure uniformity in reporting.^10,11 Data accuracy is further ensured by rigorous certification of hospital staff and use of standardized software with data checks for completeness and accuracy.