More than one third of the patients had a ventricular tachyarrhythmia within the last hour of life. Cardiac death was the primary cause and heart failure the specific cause of death in the majority of the cases. Devices remained active in more than half of the patients with a do-not-resuscitate order; almost one fourth of these patients received at least 1 shock in the last 24 hours of life.

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There is lack of basic knowledge in ICD treatment and clinical management among physicians. The majority of the respondents had prior experience in treating ICD patients. Over two-thirds of the physicians rated their knowledge to be low, while test scores revealed sufficient knowledge in only 41% of the physicians surveyed. The lack of ICD knowledge is most prominent in Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, but it also extends to physicians in Cardiology departments. With an increasing number of ICD patients, it is of great importance to fill this knowledge gap as soon as possible.

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