Background: Approximately 5000 cases of sudden cardiac arrests occur each year in Swedish hospitals. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can be a life-saving treatment. However, CPR is not always appropriate, for example for terminally ill patients. Drawing the line between when curative care should turn into palliative care can be a difficult decision to make. All medical staff should immediately begin CPR on patients staying in hospitals with sudden cardiac arrest, unless there is a documented decision that CPR should not be performed. Reasons for such a decision might be if the patient does not want treatment with CPR, or if the physician does not consider it to be medically justified. Aim: Describe how nurses and patients perceive and participate in decisions on resuscitation. Method: Literature review based on data from published scientific articles (n=6). Results: Five themes are presented: Perception of nurses, perception of patients, nurses' views on their role in the decision, the nurses’ views on the role of patients in the decision and perception of patients of their role in the decision. Conclusion: The results indicate that the nurse already is taking an active role as patient representatives and many times the initiator of discussion with the physician. The results also suggest that patients today have a very small role in decision-making