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.
The death of a child is different from the death of an adult. It concerns a person on the threshold of life, on whom the attention of the whole family is focused. The death of a child violates the foundations of its existence and becomes a particularly difficult and sometimes even unacceptable experience for parents [1,2]. This situation is complemented by the lack of our own experiences with the death of
The debate on limiting futile therapy in the aspect of End of Life (EoL) care has been going on in Poland over the last decade. The growing demand for EoL care resulting from the aging of societies corresponds to the expectation of a satisfactory quality of life and self-determination. The authors designed a cross-sectional study using a newly designed questionnaire to assess the opinions of 190 nurses employed in intensive care units (ICUs) on futile therapy, practices, and the respondents’ approach to the issue. The problem of futile therapy and its clinical implications are known to the nursing community. Among the most common reasons for undertaking futile therapy in adult patients, the respondents declared fear of legal liability for not taking such actions (71.58%), as well as fear of being accused of unethical conduct (56.32%), and fear of talking to the patient/patient’s family and their reaction (43.16%). In the case of adult patients, the respondents believed that discontinuation of futile therapy should be decided by the patient (84.21%), followed by a doctor (64.21%). As for paediatric patients, two-thirds of the respondents mentioned a doctor and a court (64.74% and 64.21%, respectively). Overall, 65.26% of the respondents believe and agree that the comfort of the patient’s last days is more important than the persistent continuation of therapy and prolonging life at all costs. The presented results clearly show the attitude of the respondents who defend the patient’s dignity and autonomy.
ORIGINAL AND CLINICAL ARTICLESThe ideal method of anaesthesia is characterized by safety, depth of anaesthesia appropriate to the force of the stimuli from the operating field, rapid waking time, and providing good conditions for the examiner. Searching for such anaesthesia and its refinement remain an open research subject. Treatments that require anaesthesia include endoscopic, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in paediatric gastroenterology. Most children require deep sedation or general anaesthesia [1,2]. Sedatives, intravenous anaesthetic agents and analgesics are used for general anaesthesia with preserved spontaneous breathing. Synergistic effects of these drugs result in dose reduction, and thus reduce the likelihood of undesirable effects. Due to different mechanisms
REviEw ARtiCLESin the wake of the COviD-19 pandemic, we were faced with the dilemma of priority access, rationalization, allocation of resources, and treatment resources. the increasing number of infected patients, the lack of hospital beds, personal protective equipment shortages and medics working beyond their capacity all contributed to the picture of our reality during the pandemic.At this difficult time, the thought of unsettled discussions about medical futility is persistently recurring. Unused guidelines, lack of legal regulations, and neglected education turn out to be a problem that becomes very acute in the year of the pandemic. the debate about medical futility is often focused on intensive care units where life-
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.