Do not resuscitate discussions in a hospital-based home care program.

Discussion of code status of a patient is usually raised in the inpatient setting, when patients are unable to participate because of their critical condition. In order to increase patient participation, code status was discussed in the homes of 37 chronically ill patients enrolled in a hospital-based home care program. Twenty patients or conservators did not want resuscitation performed in case of cardiac arrest. In this small, select group, outpatient code discussions benefited the patients, families, and health care providers.