Naslov
How to allocate intensive care resources during the COVID-19 pandemic: medical triage or a priori selection?

Autori
Sekulić, Ante ; Likić, Robert ; Matas, Marijana

Izvornik
Croatian medical journal (0353-9504) 61 (2020), 3; 276-278

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
COVID-19 ; intensive care ; ICU ; resource ; allocation

Sažetak
The pandemic outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has seriously affected social life, economy, and medical community around the world. One of the com-plications of this viral infection is acute respiratory failure, a serious condition treated by artificial blood oxygenation and carbon dioxide removal. These treatments require the use of modalities based on complex and expensive health technology, such as mechanical ventilation of the lungs, respiratory dialysis, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, hyperbaric oxygenation, and blood filtering. A sharp increase in the number of infected patients worldwide has created acute shortages of medical technology for intensive care life support. Consequently, not all patients who need a full intensive care treatment have access to it. In such circumstances, fair allocation of resources remains a very challenging task, which has been approached from various ethical perspectives. Here, we discuss the ethical principles used in this setting based on the literature data and experiences gained during the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia. Ethical consideration of resource allocation in intensive care medicine takes into account several important factors: cost-effectiveness analyses, severity of illness assessment, and prediction of treatment outcome.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Kliničke medicinske znanosti, Biotehnologija u biomedicini (prirodno područje, biomedicina i zdravstvo, biotehničko područje)

POVEZANOST RADA