Crisis standards of care in a pandemic: navigating the ethical, clinical, psychological and policy-making maelstrom.
Int J Qual Health Care
; 33(1)2021 Mar 03.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-713494
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused clinicians at the frontlines to confront difficult decisions regarding resource allocation, treatment options and ultimately the life-saving measures that must be taken at the point of care. This article addresses the importance of enacting crisis standards of care (CSC) as a policy mechanism to facilitate the shift to population-based medicine. In times of emergencies and crises such as this pandemic, the enactment of CSC enables concrete decisions to be made by governments relating to supply chains, resource allocation and provision of care to maximize societal benefit. This shift from an individual to a population-based societal focus has profound consequences on how clinical decisions are made at the point of care. Failing to enact CSC may have psychological impacts for healthcare providers particularly related to moral distress, through an inability to fully enact individual beliefs (individually focused clinical decisions) which form their moral compass.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Quality of Health Care
/
Health Care Rationing
/
Health Personnel
/
Emergencies
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal subject:
Health Services
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Intqhc
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