ArticleBMJ open2020
Which factors should be included in triage? An online survey of the attitudes of the UK general public to pandemic triage dilemmas.
Article in BMJ open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
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- Allocating a scarce medical resource: liver transplant and lay individuals' patient prioritisation.BMC medical ethics · 2026Article
- Frailty at ICU admission: a potential alternative to scoring systems based on clinical observation.Internal and emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Collective Reflective Equilibrium, Algorithmic Bioethics and Complex Ethics.Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics : CQ : the international journal of healthcare ethics committees · 2025Article
- The German translation of the Oxford utilitarianism scale: Validation and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the observations.PloS one · 2025Article
- Fair allocation of resources in the moral dilemma of triage.Frontiers in sociology · 2025Article
- Frailty prevalence in 42 European countries by age and gender: development of the SHARE Frailty Atlas for Europe.GeroScience · 2024Article
- Ethics of artificial intelligence in medicine.Singapore medical journal · 2024Review
- Explicit discrimination and ingroup favoritism, but no implicit biases in hypothetical triage decisions during COVID-19.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Public perspectives on COVID-19 triage protocols for access to critical care in extreme pandemic context.PloS one · 2024Article
- Covid-19 and age discrimination: benefit maximization, fairness, and justified age-based rationing.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2023Article
- Putting ICU triage guidelines into practice: A simulation study using observations and interviews.PloS one · 2023Review
- Public voices on tie-breaking criteria and underlying values in COVID-19 triage protocols to access critical care: a scoping review.Discover health systems · 2023Article
- Race and resource allocation: an online survey of US and UK adults' attitudes toward COVID-19 ventilator and vaccine distribution.BMJ open · 2022Article
- A retrospective cohort study comparing differences in 30-day mortality among critically ill patients aged ≥ 70 years treated in European tax-based healthcare systems (THS) versus social health insurance systems.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Variations in end-of-life care practices in older critically ill patients with COVID-19 in Europe.Journal of internal medicine · 2022Article
- Community preferences for the allocation of scarce healthcare resources during the COVID-19 pandemic: a review of the literature.Public health · 2022Review
- Who gets the ventilator? A multicentre survey of intensivists' opinions of triage during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica · 2022Article
- We Should Not Use Randomization Procedures to Allocate Scarce Life-Saving Resources.Public health ethics · 2022Article
- Which features of patients are morally relevant in ventilator triage? A survey of the UK public.BMC medical ethics · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveAs cases of COVID-19 infections surge, concerns have renewed about intensive care units (ICUs) being overwhelmed and the need for specific triage protocols over winter. This study aimed to help inform triage guidance by exploring the views of lay people about factors to include in triage decisions. DESIGN, SETTING AND
participantsOnline survey between 29th of May and 22nd of June 2020 based on hypothetical triage dilemmas. Participants recruited from existing market research panels, representative of the UK general population. Scenarios were presented in which a single ventilator is available, and two patients require ICU admission and ventilation. Patients differed in one of: chance of survival, life expectancy, age, expected length of treatment, disability and degree of frailty. Respondents were given the option of choosing one patient to treat or tossing a coin to decide.
resultsSeven hundred and sixty-three participated. A majority of respondents prioritised patients who would have a higher chance of survival (72%-93%), longer life expectancy (78%-83%), required shorter duration of treatment (88%-94%), were younger (71%-79%) or had a lesser degree of frailty (60%-69%, all p<0.001). Where there was a small difference between two patients, a larger proportion elected to toss a coin to decide which patient to treat. A majority (58%-86%) were prepared to withdraw treatment from a patient in intensive care who had a lower chance of survival than another patient currently presenting with COVID-19. Respondents also indicated a willingness to give higher priority to healthcare workers and to patients with young children.
conclusionMembers of the UK general public potentially support a broadly utilitarian approach to ICU triage in the face of overwhelming need. Survey respondents endorsed the relevance of patient factors currently included in triage guidance, but also factors not currently included. They supported the permissibility of reallocating treatment in a pandemic.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.