Triage during the COVID-19 pandemic

Ewa Kucewicz-Czech; Maria Damps

eISSN: 1731-2515
ISSN: 0209-1712

Anestezjologia Intensywna Terapia

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4/2020
vol. 52

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abstract:

Review paper

Triage during the COVID-19 pandemic

Ewa Kucewicz-Czech

¹

,

Maria Damps

²

Department of Cardiac Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Leszek Giec Upper-Silesian Medical Centre, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland
Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Upper Silesian Child Health Centre, Katowice, Poland

Online publish date: 2020/11/15

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The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was previously unknown, and we are learning about it day by day, but pandemic-associated ethical dilemmas have been studied and discussed for years. Triage means not only ranking in terms of importance (prioritisation) but also allocation of limited medical resources. Survival, post epidemic-quality of life, and consumption of medical resources required to achieve the set goal are crucial for making triage decisions. The pandemic triage decisions should be based on a protocol, considering the need for medical measures and therapy benefits. The first step is to consider the exclusion criteria and the risk of death. The next step is sequential clinical assessment, repeatable at defined intervals. It seems that the preferable solution is to triage all the patients and give priority to those who would benefit more. A prerequisite for allocating insufficient medical resources is public trust in the criteria for allocation.

keywords:

Triage during the COVID-19 pandemic

Ewa Kucewicz-Czech 1 , Maria Damps 2

pandemic, COVID-19, triage

Ewa Kucewicz-Czech

¹

,

Maria Damps

²