Public engagement in defining triage before future pandemics

The covid-19 inquiry has considered many areas of the pandemic response and where improvements need to be made.1One neglected aspect is triage and rationing, which is where doctors’ clinical decisions can conflict with their consciences while facing pressure from families. It can be the root of the moral injury associated with burnout and other mental health problems. Clear support and guidance are important.On reviewing the literature in March 2020 there was little good quality commentary. Several organisations had made guidelines—notably the Italian society for anaesthetics in response to their early experience of working with limited resources in the first wave of covid.2 A document based on community work in New York that examined triage in the face of a theoretical influenza pandemic merited more attention than it got.3 It discusses the processes involved in arriving at a silo system of triage which could be adapted to the UK.The BMA thoroughly…
Read Original Article: Public engagement in defining triage before future pandemics »