ReviewBMC medicine2020
Allocation of intensive care resources during an infectious disease outbreak: a rapid review to inform practice.
Review in BMC medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Simulating crisis triage: a methodological framework for evaluating ventilator allocation under crisis standards of care.BMC medical research methodology · 2026Article
- Evaluation and improvement of algorithmic fairness for COVID-19 severity classification using Explainable Artificial Intelligence-based bias mitigation.JAMIA open · 2026Article
- Epidemiology, Ventilation Management, and Outcomes in Invasively Ventilated Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients: An Analysis of Four Observational Studies in Four Countries on Two Continents.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2025Observational
- Experts' Views on Factors Influencing Resource Allocation for Infectious Disease Emergencies Based on Humanitarian Principles: A Qualitative Study.AJPM focus · 2025Article
- Assessing the impact of vaccination and medical resource allocation on infectious disease outbreak management: a case study of COVID-19 in Taiyuan City.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Public perspectives on COVID-19 triage protocols for access to critical care in extreme pandemic context.PloS one · 2024Article
- Simulation of New York City's Ventilator Allocation Guideline During the Spring 2020 COVID-19 Surge.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- 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
- [Coronavirus disease 2019 and frailty].Zeitschrift fur Gerontologie und Geriatrie · 2022Review
- How Common SOFA and Ventilator Time Trial Criteria Would Have Performed During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Observational Simulated Cohort Study.Disaster medicine and public health preparedness · 2022Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has placed sustained demand on health systems globally, and the capacity to provide critical care has been overwhelmed in some jurisdictions. It is unknown which triage criteria for allocation of resources perform best to inform health system decision-making. We sought to summarize and describe existing triage tools and ethical frameworks to aid healthcare decision-making during infectious disease outbreaks.
methodsWe conducted a rapid review of triage criteria and ethical frameworks for the allocation of critical care resources during epidemics and pandemics. We searched Medline, EMBASE, and SCOPUS from inception to November 3, 2020. Full-text screening and data abstraction were conducted independently and in duplicate by three reviewers. Articles were included if they were primary research, an adult critical care setting, and the framework described was related to an infectious disease outbreak. We summarized each triage tool and ethical guidelines or framework including their elements and operating characteristics using descriptive statistics. We assessed the quality of each article with applicable checklists tailored to each study design.
resultsFrom 11,539 unique citations, 697 full-text articles were reviewed and 83 articles were included. Fifty-nine described critical care triage protocols and 25 described ethical frameworks. Of these, four articles described both a protocol and ethical framework. Sixty articles described 52 unique triage criteria (29 algorithm-based, 23 point-based). Few algorithmic- or point-based triage protocols were good predictors of mortality with AUCs ranging from 0.51 (PMEWS) to 0.85 (admitting SOFA > 11). Most published triage protocols included the substantive values of duty to provide care, equity, stewardship and trust, and the procedural value of reason.
conclusionsThis review summarizes available triage protocols and ethical guidelines to provide decision-makers with data to help select and tailor triage tools. Given the uncertainty about how the COVID-19 pandemic will progress and any future pandemics, jurisdictions should prepare by selecting and adapting a triage tool that works best for their circumstances.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.