Abstract
Trainee doctors must acquire skills in resuscitation, but opportunities for learning on real patients are limited. One option is to practise these skills in newly deceased patients. We sought opinions from 400 multiethnic guests at an open-access dinner dance for members of a local community. The questionnaire could elicit the responses strongly agree, agree, unsure, disagree or strongly disagree. 332 (83%) guests responded. For non-invasive techniques, 32% of responders supported practice without consent, 74% with consent. Support diminished with increasing invasiveness of procedure. 91% of the sample were uncomfortable about the procedures, the commonest reason being 'respect for the body' (264/302). 86% of responders felt that practice should last for no more than 5 minutes. The most popular solutions were for people to carry a personal card giving consent (89%) and establishment of a central register of individuals consenting to be practised upon after death (79%).
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Benfield D. G., Flaksman R. J., Lin T. H., Kantak A. D., Kokomoor F. W., Vollman J. H. Teaching intubation skills using newly deceased infants. JAMA. 1991 May 8;265(18):2360–2363. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Brattebø G., Wisborg T., Solheim K., Oyen N. Public opinion on different approaches to teaching intubation techniques. BMJ. 1993 Nov 13;307(6914):1256–1257. doi: 10.1136/bmj.307.6914.1256. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Burns J. P., Reardon F. E., Truog R. D. Using newly deceased patients to teach resuscitation procedures. N Engl J Med. 1994 Dec 15;331(24):1652–1655. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199412153312411. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Orlowski J. P., Kanoti G. A., Mehlman M. J. The ethics of using newly dead patients for teaching and practicing intubation techniques. N Engl J Med. 1988 Aug 18;319(7):439–441. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198808183190710. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Schroeder S. A., Marton K. I., Strom B. L. Frequency and morbidity of invasive procedures: report of a pilot study from two teaching hospitals. Arch Intern Med. 1978 Dec;138(12):1809–1811. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Tonks Alison. Intubation practice on cadavers should stop. BMJ. 1992 Aug 8;305(6849):332–332. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]