What it means
A provider's order, based on the client's wishes or advance directive, that the client must not have an endotracheal tube or be put on a breathing machine. It is separate from a DNR (do not resuscitate) order: a client may have one without the other, so the code status must say exactly which treatments are wanted.
For the nurse
Check the code status at every handoff and on the wristband or chart flag as agency policy sets. DNI does not mean "do not treat": oxygen, medicines and comfort care continue.
At a glance
| Also written | do not intubate, do-not-intubate |
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Related terms
cardiopulmonary resuscitation
Emergency chest compressions, with or without rescue breaths, to keep blood flowing when the heart has stopped.
endotracheal intubation
Putting a breathing tube through the mouth or nose into the windpipe (trachea).
mechanical ventilation
Breathing support from a machine, a ventilator, that pushes air into the lungs through a tube or a mask.
Patient Self-Determination Act
A 1990 US federal law requiring health care facilities to tell adults about their right to make advance directives and to accept or refuse treatment.