A clinical assessment of the likely future course and outcome of a patient’s condition. In the context of cardiac arrest and intensive care, prognosis refers particularly to the predicted likelihood of survival and the degree of neurological recovery expected. Neuroprognostication — assessing likely brain function — is one of the most difficult and important tasks in post-cardiac arrest care, and is usually not attempted until at least 72 hours after the arrest to allow for the effects of sedation and therapeutic hypothermia to clear. Prognostic information can be deeply distressing for families and co-survivors to hear, and clinical teams should ideally deliver it sensitively, in a private setting, with time allowed for questions. Prognosis is never certain — outcomes better and worse than predicted do occur.
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