Parents of critically ill children must make decisions about providing or withholding CPR. Sometimes, doctors believe that CPR would be“futile” but cannot convince parents. 70-92% of adults report that they obtain information about CPR and other medical treatments from TV. To understand the preconceptions that parents might bring to CPR discussions, we studied outcomes after CPR on 3 TV shows. METHODS: We identified all occurrences of CPR on “ER” and “Chicago Hope” and“Rescue 911” during the 1994-95 season. CPR was defined as any situation in which a patient received chest compressions, defibrillation, or was said to “have no pulse” or to be “having an arrest.” We noted the cause of the arrest, location of arrest (in- or out-of-hospital), whether bystander CPR was performed, the patients' age(child, teen, adult), immediate survival, survival to hospital discharge, and long term outcome. RESULTS: On 97 programs, there were 60 episodes of CPR. The most common causes of arrest were trauma (50%) and heart disease(28%). 60% of arrests occurred outside the hospital. 46/60 (77%) of patients survived the immediate arrest. 6 survivors died before hospital discharge. Overall survival to discharge was 40/60 (67%). 22 (37%) CPR episodes involved children or teenagers. 15/16 (94%) children and 7/10(70%) teens survived. Only 3/22 (14%) of children had underlying illnesses. Only 1 survivor had neurologic damage. Location, cause of arrest, and bystander CPR did not affect outcome. Reported survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests range from 2-30%. CONCLUSIONS: TV misrepresents the situations in which CPR most commonly occurs, overestimates survival, and underestimates neurologic sequelae. Discussions about CPR in clinical settings might address misconceptions perpetuated by the media.