Megan M Gray1, Catherine R Butler2, Laura B Webster3, Mark R Tonelli4, Vicki L Sakata5,1, Douglas S Diekema1,6. 1. Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA. 2. Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Washington; Veterans Affairs Health Services Research & Development Center of Innovation for Veteran-Centered and Value-Driven Care, Seattle, Washington, USA. 3. Virginia Mason Medical Center, Department of Bioethics and Humanities, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA. 4. Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, SeattleWashington, USA. 5. Northwest Healthcare Response Network, Seattle, Washington, USA. 6. Trueman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, USA.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Plans for allocation of scarce life-sustaining resources during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic often include triage teams, but operational details are lacking, including what patient information is needed to make triage decisions. METHODS: A Delphi study among Washington state disaster preparedness experts was performed to develop a list of patient information items needed for triage team decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts proposed and rated their agreement with candidate information items during asynchronous Delphi rounds. Consensus was defined as ≥80% agreement. Qualitative analysis was used to describe considerations arising in this deliberation. A timed simulation was performed to evaluate feasibility of data collection from the electronic health record. RESULTS: Over 3 asynchronous Delphi rounds, 50 experts reached consensus on 24 patient information items, including patients' age, severe or end-stage comorbidities, the reason for and timing of admission, measures of acute respiratory failure, and clinical trajectory. Experts weighed complex considerations around how information items could support effective prognostication, consistency, accuracy, minimizing bias, and operationalizability of the triage process. Data collection took a median of 227 seconds (interquartile range = 205, 298) per patient. CONCLUSIONS: Experts achieved consensus on patient information items that were necessary and appropriate for informing triage teams during the COVID-19 pandemic.
OBJECTIVE: Plans for allocation of scarce life-sustaining resources during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic often include triage teams, but operational details are lacking, including what patient information is needed to make triage decisions. METHODS: A Delphi study among Washington state disaster preparedness experts was performed to develop a list of patient information items needed for triage team decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts proposed and rated their agreement with candidate information items during asynchronous Delphi rounds. Consensus was defined as ≥80% agreement. Qualitative analysis was used to describe considerations arising in this deliberation. A timed simulation was performed to evaluate feasibility of data collection from the electronic health record. RESULTS: Over 3 asynchronous Delphi rounds, 50 experts reached consensus on 24 patient information items, including patients' age, severe or end-stage comorbidities, the reason for and timing of admission, measures of acute respiratory failure, and clinical trajectory. Experts weighed complex considerations around how information items could support effective prognostication, consistency, accuracy, minimizing bias, and operationalizability of the triage process. Data collection took a median of 227 seconds (interquartile range = 205, 298) per patient. CONCLUSIONS: Experts achieved consensus on patient information items that were necessary and appropriate for informing triage teams during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Entities:
Keywords:
COVID-19; crisis standards of care; health-care resource allocation; triage
Authors: Catherine R Butler; Laura B Webster; Douglas S Diekema; Megan M Gray; Vicki L Sakata; Mark R Tonelli; Kelly C Vranas Journal: JAMA Netw Open Date: 2022-04-01