Test on Medical Ethics of ICU Resource Allocation
Medical Ethics of ICU Resource Allocation: A Student Guide
Test: ICU resource allocation
20 questions
Question 1: Ethical clinical care standards for treatment allocation require decisions to be based on a patient's need, prognosis, and the effectiveness of the treatment.
A. Ano
B. Ne
Explanation: The study materials state that the duty is to base treatment allocation decisions on fundamental standards of ethical clinical care: need, prognosis, and effectiveness. It further clarifies that if rationing becomes necessary, it should be guided by patient need, short-term prognosis, and the effectiveness of the intervention.
Question 2: The moral foundation of the triage plan for allocating intensive care resources is primarily directed by the patient's long-term life expectancy.
A. Ano
B. Ne
Explanation: The study materials state that the moral foundation of the triage plan for allocating intensive care resources is to be directed by "greater chances of therapeutic success," not primarily by a patient's long-term life expectancy.
Question 3: Therapeutic success and life expectancy are considered synonymous aims in medical and moral contexts within the SIAARTI guidelines.
A. Ano
B. Ne
Explanation: Therapeutic success and life expectancy are described as "very different aims, medically and morally." Therapeutic success implies saving a patient's life from an acute illness, while life expectancy refers to the number of years an individual is expected to live after surviving the acute illness.
Question 4: The SIAARTI guidelines explicitly state that age should be used as a stand-alone criterion for denying ventilator care, independent of other measures of potential therapeutic success.
A. Ano
B. Ne
Explanation: The study materials indicate that using age as a stand-alone criterion (e.g., explicitly triaging all patients over 65 years of age to palliative care) 'seems wrong' and that age can figure as one factor among many in determining the chances of therapeutic success, but denying ventilator care on the basis of age alone without consent and independent of other measures of potential therapeutic success seems biased against the elderly. Therefore, the guidelines do not explicitly state age as a stand-alone criterion for denying care.
Question 5: When making intensive care resource allocation decisions, assessing how likely a patient is to survive to hospital discharge if provided ventilatory support is a factor related to treatment effectiveness.
A. Ano
B. Ne
Explanation: The study materials state that ethical clinical care standards for treatment allocation include 'effectiveness,' and an example given for assessing effectiveness is 'How likely is the patient to survive to hospital discharge if provided ventilatory support?'