Documentation of brain death

Measure Purpose: Ensure consistent application of brain-death determination guidelines to avoid misdiagnosis and promote family acceptance of diagnosis

The numerator: Patients >37 weeks gestational age who died in the hospital with a diagnosis of brain death who had documentation of apnea testing* OR, if apnea testing not possible, documentation of an acceptable ancillary* test performed

*See full measure specifications for additional details

is divided by

The denominator: Patients >37 weeks gestational age who died in the hospital with a diagnosis of brain death

Key Phrases

Key phrases you should use to meet this measure include:

• Apnea testing performed for confirmation of brain death
• Ancillary test performed for confirmation of brain death
• EEG performed for confirmation of brain death
• Radionuclide cerebral blood flow performed for confirmation of brain death
• Cerebral angiography performed for confirmation of brain death
• Transcranial doppler performed for confirmation of brain death

Measure Calculation Example

Dr. Rodrigues had 20 patients in the emergency department and on his hospital service that had a diagnosis of brain death between January 1 and December 31 in the measurement year. This is the denominator. 

Of those 20 patients, none had apnea testing and 12 had ancillary tests performed to confirm brain death diagnosis. This is the numerator.

Quality of care = 12/20. Dr. Rodrigues has a score of 60% for this measure.