The compliance of doctors and nurses with do-not-resuscitate orders in Germany and Sweden.

A questionnaire based on a case-scenario offering three levels of available information about the patients' wishes was circulated with the objective to evaluate compliance with do-not-resuscitate orders (DNR) and advance directives (AD) from a cross-cultural perspective. Replies from 191 doctors and 182 nurses from Germany and 104 doctors and 122 nurses from Sweden were studied. The frequency of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) performed against the patients wishes varied between 32.5% (German doctors for DNR-scenario) and 8.3% (Swedish nurses for AD-scenario). The variance regarding the CPR decision could be explained by the help obtained by increasing information regarding the patients wishes and preferred treatment options. Since compliance is related to detailed information given by the patient the use of DNRs and ADs should be encouraged to a larger extent.