This study examined the influence of patient attributes and provider or organizational factors on the decision to apply targeted temperature management (TTM) to resuscitated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients.

A balanced factorial experiment was conducted among emergency medicine physicians (EMPs). Sixteen OHCA patient scenarios with balanced factors were presented. The balancing factors were dichotomous categories of patient age (45 ± 2 vs. 70 ± 2 years), patient sex (men vs. women), socioeconomic status (SES; higher vs. lower), and guardian attitudes (positive vs. reluctant) regarding TTM. Information on participant and organizational characteristics was collected. The outcome variable was a score (0−100) based on responses to questions that indicated how likely the participants were to apply TTM.

Seventy-five EMPs completed the experiment. The median score for the likelihood of TTM application was 85 (interquartile range, 70–95). Scores differed significantly for patient age (90% vs. 80%, p = 0.001), SES (90% vs. 80%, p = 0.001), and guardian attitude regarding TTM (90% vs. 70%, p = 0.001). The likelihood of TTM application was associated with EMP experience with TTM (more or <50 times) (90% vs. 80%, p = 0.001). EMPs working in hospitals with commercial TTM devices or operating protocols were more likely to use TTM than those working in hospitals without TTM devices or protocols (88 vs. 80 and 90 vs. 80; p = 0.001, respectively).

Patient demographics and provider and organizational factors significantly affected the decision to apply TTM.