Background: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) team was established for the first time at  Songklanagarind Hospital in July 2000. The following study examines the results of the work of  this team during its first 7 years.

Objectives: To analyze and evaluate the outcome of in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at Songklanagarind Hospital and factors affecting the outcome.

Setting: An 836-bed University Hospital in Thailand.

Design: A descriptive and retrospective study.

Materials and methods: Data were collected from record forms and then retrospectively  reviewed using patient admission charts of all cases of CPR coding at all wards except the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and Operating Room (OR) dated from July 2000 - June 2007.

Results: A total of 887 cardiac arrests were included: 553 males, 334 females, ages ranging from 10 months to 93 years. The most common underlying diseases (before resuscitation) were cardiac and cardiovascular disease (24.4%). The most common cause of arrest was septic shock (22%). The most common initial electrocardiogram (ECG) rhythms note was asystole (47.3%). Most patients received basic life support within 1 minute (97.6%) and advanced life support within 4 minutes (89.1%).  Following resuscitation, 629 (71%) patients had restoration of spontaneous circulation. In our setting, survival rate (human being) in patients receiving CPR was 12%.

Conclusion: The survival rate (human being) of patients receiving CPR at Songklanagarind Hospital was 12%. The initial survival rate was associated with causes of cardiac arrest, underlying disease before resuscitation and amount of adrenaline used during resuscitation.