Should age matter in COVID-19 triage? A deliberative study

The COVID-19 pandemic put a large burden on many healthcare systems, causing fears about resource scarcity and triage. Several COVID-19 guidelines included age as an explicit factor and practices of both triage and 'anticipatory triage' likely limited access to hospital care for elderly patients, especially those in care homes. To ensure the legitimacy of triage guidelines, which affect the public, it is important to engage the public's moral intuitions. Our study aimed to explore general public views in the UK on the role of age, and related factors like frailty and quality of life, in triage during the COVID-19 pandemic. We held online deliberative workshops with members of the general public (n = 22). Participants were guided through a deliberative process to maximise eliciting informed and considered preferences. Participants generally accepted the need for triage but strongly rejected 'fair innings' and 'life projects' principles as justifications for age-based allocation. They were also wary of the 'maximise life-years' principle, preferring to maximise the number of lives rather than life years saved. Although they did not arrive at a unified recommendation of one principle, a concern for three core principles and values eventually emerged: equality, efficiency and vulnerability. While these remain difficult to fully respect at once, they captured a considered, multifaceted consensus: utilitarian considerations of efficiency should be tempered with a concern for equality and vulnerability. This 'triad' of ethical principles may be a useful structure to guide ethical deliberation as societies negotiate the conflicting ethical demands of triage. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Public voices on tie-breaking criteria and underlying values in COVID-19 triage protocols to access critical care: a scoping review.

Background: To reduce the arbitrariness in the allocation of rare resources in intensive care units (ICU) in the context of the pandemic, tiebreakers were considered in some COVID-19 triage algorithms. They were also contemplated to facilitate the tragic decisions of healthcare workers when faced with two patients with similar prognosis and only one ICU bed available. Little is known about the public's perspective on tiebreakers. Objectives: To consolidate the available scientific literature on public consultations, particularly on tiebreakers and their underlying values. Also, to obtain an overview of the key arguments presented by the participating public and to identify potential gaps related to this topic. Methods: The steps described by Arksey and O'Malley was the preferred method to our approach. Seven electronic databases were searched from January 2020 to April 2022, using keywords for each database: PubMed, Medline, EMBASE, Web of Science, PsycINFO, EBM reviews, CINAHL complete. We also searched in Google and Google Scholar, and in the references of the articles found. Our analysis was mainly qualitative. A thematic analysis was performed to consider the public's perspectives on tiebreakers and their underlying values, according to these studies. Results: Of 477 publications found, 20 were selected. They carried out public consultations through various methods: surveys (80%), interviews (20%), deliberative processes (15%) and others (5%) in various countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, and United States. Five themes emerged from our analysis. The public favored the life cycle (50%) and absolute age (45%) as a tiebreaker. Other values considered important were reciprocity, solidarity, equality, instrumental value, patient merit, efficiency, and stewardship. Among the new findings were a preference for patient nationality and those affected by COVID-19. Conclusions: There is a preference for favoring younger patients over older patients when there is a tie between similar patients, with a slight tendency to favor intergenerational equity. Variability was found in the public's perspectives on tiebreakers and their values. This variability was related to socio-cultural and religious factors. More studies are needed to understand the public's perspective on tiebreakers. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s44250-023-00027-9.

Methodology to Support the Triage of Suspected COVID-19 Patients in Resource-Limited Circumstances

COVID-19 pandemic has put health systems worldwide under pressure. Thus, establish a triage protocol to support the allocation of resources is important to deal with this public health crisis. In this paper, a structured methodology to support the triage of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients has been proposed, based on the utilitarian principle. A decision model has been proposed for evaluating three treatment alternatives: intensive care, hospital stay and home isolation. The model is developed according to multi-attribute utility theory and considers two criteria: the life of the patient and the overall cost to the health system. A screening protocol is proposed to support the use of the decision model, and a method is presented for calculating the probability of which of three treatment is the best one. The proposed methodology was implemented in an information and decision system. The originality of this study is using of the multi-attribute utility theory to support the triage of suspected COVID-19 and implement the decision model in an information and decision system.

Patients visiting gastroenterology clinics avoid giving honest history for COVID-19 related symptoms in the pre-clinic triage.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the discrepancy in terms of history related to coronavirus disease-2019 and symptoms given in the pre-clinic triage and to the doctor attending the patient in a gastroenterology clinic. METHODS: The observational study was conducted from September 2020 to January 2021 at the Gastroenterology outpatient department of Dr Ziauddin Hospital's Clifton unit in Karachi, and comprised all patients visiting the facility regardless of age and gender. Data was collected using a questionnaire that was first filled up by the receptionist outside the clinic and was then administered again once the patient entered the clinic. Discrepancy on the answers was then checked and associations were determined with clinical assessment. Data was analysed using SPSS 20. RESULTS: Of the 300 patients, 184(61.3%) were males and 116(38.6%) were females. The overall mean age was 55 ± 16.98 (range: 18-92 years). Discrepancy between pre-clinic and in-clinic self-reported data was significant for fever, cough, fatigue, headache, body ache, diarrhoea, sore throat, loss of sense of smell/taste, shortness of breath, and contact with someone positive for coronavirus disease-2019 was significant (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Patients were found to be afraid of getting barred from seeing a consultant, had fear of hospital-based isolation or were in denial regarding the pandemic.

The Pragmatic Return to Effective Dental Infection Control Through Triage and Testing (PREDICT) Study: Protocol for a Prospective Clinical Study in the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network.

BACKGROUND: Dental practice has been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. As SARS-CoV-2 infection is transmitted by respiratory fluids, dental practice techniques, which include aerosol-generating procedures, can increase the risk of transmission causing heightened safety concerns for both dental health care workers (DHCWs) and patients. These concerns have resulted in the reduction in patient volume and the available workforce within dental practices across the United States. Standardized methods for COVID-19 triage and testing may lead to increased safety and perceptions of safety for DHCWs and their patients and promote willingness to provide and access oral health care services. OBJECTIVE: This study is designed to develop procedures that test the feasibility of enhanced COVID-19 triage and testing in dental offices. It will provide preliminary data to support a larger network-wide study grant application aimed at developing protocols to address safety concerns of patients and DHCWs in a peri-COVID-19 pandemic era. METHODS: The feasibility study is being conducted in 4 private dental practices, each of which has a dentist member of the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network. Participants include the DHCWs and patients of the dental practice. Study procedures include completion of COVID-19 triage, completion of COVID-19 testing (point-of-care [POC] or laboratory-based [LAB] SARS-CoV-2 viral, antigen, and antibody tests based on office designation), and administration of perception and attitude surveys for participating DCHWs and patients of the dental practice over a defined study period. The office designation and the participant's role in the practice determines which testing protocol is executed within the office. There are 4 study groups following 4 distinct protocols: (1) POC DHCWs, (2) POC patients, (3) LAB DHCWs, and (4) LAB patients. RESULTS: Data collection began in December of 2021 and concluded in March 2022. Study results are expected to be published in fall 2022. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this feasibility study will help identify the viability and functionality of COVID-19 triage and testing in dental practices and inform a larger network-wide study grant application that develops protocols that address safety concerns of patients and DHCWs in a COVID-19 environment. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NTC05123742; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05123742?term=NCT05123742. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/38386.

Portable health clinic COVID-19 system for remote patient follow-up ensuring clinical safety.

Background: A developing country like Bangladesh suffers very much from the sudden appearance of the COVID-19 pandemic due to the shortage of medical facilities for testing and follow-up treatment. The Portable Health Clinic (PHC) system has developed the COVID-19 module with a triage system for the detection of COVID-19 suspects and the follow-up of the home quarantined COVID-19 patients to reduce the workload of the limited medical facilities. Methods: The PHC COVID-19 system maintains a questionnaire-based triage function using the experience of the Japanese practice of diseases management for early detection of suspected COVID-19 patients who may need a confirmation test. Then only the highly suspected patients go for testing preventing the unnecessary crowd from the confirmation PCR test centers and hospitals. Like the basic PHC system, it also has the features for patients' treatment and follow-up for the home quarantined COVID-19 positive and suspect patients using a telemedicine system. This COVID-19 system service box contains 4 self-checking medical sensors, namely, (1) thermometer, (2) pulse oximeter, (3) blood pressure machine, and (4) glucometer for patient's health monitoring including a tablet PC installed with COVID-19 system application for communication between patient and doctor for tele-consultancy. Results: This study conducted a COVID-19 triage among 300 villagers and identified 220 green, 45 light-yellow, 2 yellow, 30 orange, and 3 red patients. Besides the 3 red patients, the call center doctors also referred another 13 patients out of the 30 orange patients to health facilities for PCR tests as suspect COVID-19 positive, and to go under their follow-up. Out of these (3 + 13 =) 16 patients, only 4 went for PCR test and 3 of them had been tested positive. The remaining orange, yellow and light-yellow patients were advised home quarantine under the follow-up of the PHC health workers and got cured in 1-2 weeks. Conclusions: This system can contribute to the community healthcare system by ensuring quality service to the suspected and 80% or more tested COVID-19 positive patients who are usually in the moderate or mild state and do not need to be hospitalized. The PHC COVID-19 system provides services maintaining social distance for preventing infection and ensuring clinical safety for both the patients and the health workers.

The Ethics of Unilateral Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders for COVID-19 Patients.

This paper examines several decision-making models that have been proposed to limit the use of CPR for COVID-19 patients. My main concern will be to assess proposals for the implementation of unilateral DNRs - i.e., orders to withhold CPR without the agreement of patients or their surrogates.

Identifying possible surrogate markers of COVID19 as a supplement to diagnostic testing in Upstate New York.

INTRODUCTION: COVID19 has raised concerns for resource allocation across various sectors of healthcare. At the frontlines, emergency departments are required to triage a wide range of acuity and non-specific symptomology. METHODS: This retrospective study aimed to pave the way for more concrete detection and triage of patients by analyzing symptomology, physical findings, diagnostic testing and relevant hospital course of the 458 suspected cases that initially presented to an academic level one trauma center emergency department between March and August 2020. A total of 202 COVID positive cases were analyzed. RESULTS: The most common symptoms were cough (70.63%), fatigue (77%), and shortness of breath (59%). There was a significantly higher percentage of abnormal chest imaging in inpatient groups compared to the ED discharge group (42.86% vs 79%, p < 0.01). Laboratory studies, especially markers of inflammation (CRP, ESR), markers of tissue damage (lactic acid, troponin), and markers of infection were markedly higher and above normal reference ranges in complicated cases (p < 0.01). While there is limited data on the sensitivity and specificity of the current nasopharyngeal PCR test, there was no permutation of symptoms, physical findings, diagnostic testing that was more sensitive than that of the current PCR test calculated at 66.1% in our cohort. CONCLUSION: Laboratory studies that otherwise are more commonly conducted inpatient, including markers of inflammation, tissue damage, and infection, may be useful in disposition planning of ED patients in conjunction with clinical correlation of presentation and chest imaging.

Prioritising 'already-scarce' intensive care unit resources in the midst of COVID-19: a call for regional triage committees in South Africa.

BACKGROUND: The worsening COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa poses multiple challenges for clinical decision making in the context of already-scarce ICU resources. Data from national government and the last published national audit of ICU resources indicate gross shortages. While the Critical Care Society of Southern Africa (CCSSA) guidelines provide a comprehensive guideline for triage in the face of overwhelmed ICU resources, such decisions present massive ethical and moral dilemmas for triage teams. It is therefore important for the health system to provide clinicians and critical care facilities with as much support and resources as possible in the face of impending pandemic demand. Following a discussion of the ethical considerations and potential challenges in applying the CCSSA guidelines, the authors propose a framework for regional triage committees adapted to the South African context. DISCUSSION: Beyond the national CCSSA guidelines, the clinician has many additional ethical and clinical considerations. No single ethical approach to decision-making is sufficient, instead one which considers multiple contextual factors is necessary. Scores such as the Clinical Frailty Score and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment are of limited use in patients with COVID-19. Furthermore, the clinician is fully justified in withdrawing ICU care based on medical futility decisions and to reallocate this resource to a patient with a better prognosis. However, these decisions bear heavy emotional and moral burden compounded by the volume of clinical work and a fear of litigation. CONCLUSION: We propose the formation of Provincial multi-disciplinary Critical Care Triage Committees to alleviate the emotional, moral and legal burden on individual ICU teams and co-ordinate inter-facility collaboration using an adapted framework. The committee would provide an impartial, broader and ethically-sound viewpoint which has time to consider broader contextual factors such as adjusting rationing criteria according to different levels of pandemic demand and the latest clinical evidence. Their functioning will be strengthened by direct feedback to national level and accountability to a national monitoring committee. The potential applications of these committees are far-reaching and have the potential to enable a more effective COVID-19 health systems response in South Africa.