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DNAR orders missed in OHCA dispatches

Emergency response with lights and sirens to patients with a suspected out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and a do-not-attempt-resuscitation order in the hospital record: a one-year observational study
Resuscitation · Added 19 September 2026

One-year regional study of 1,695 lights-and-sirens dispatches for suspected OHCA in Southern Denmark — 15.7% involved a patient with a physician-issued hospital DNAR order that dispatchers and crews couldn't access, one-day mortality was 90.6% in that group, and the authors call for DNAR orders to be visible to emergency dispatch and prehospital providers.

Study type

Cohort

Design

Retrospective regional observational study

Participants

1,695 lights-and-sirens dispatches for suspected OHCA

Main finding

15.7% had a physician-issued hospital DNAR order; 47.4% of these recorded it as patient-requested; one-day mortality was 90.6% with DNAR versus 69.5% without (p<0.05).

Caveat

Single Danish region; DNAR orders only identifiable if documented in accessible records.

Bottom line

Context only

Learning goal

Understand the system barriers that limit access to valid resuscitation orders during emergency cardiac arrest response.

More

• Topic: Cardiac arrest
• Daily scan: 19 September 2026

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