Prioritization of surgical patients during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A qualitative exploration of patients' perspectives.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

During the COVID-19 pandemic, prioritizing certain surgical patients became inevitable due to limited surgical capacity. This study aims to identify which factors patients value in priority setting, and to evaluate their perspective on a decision model for surgical prioritization.

Methods

We enacted a qualitative exploratory study and conducted semi-structured interviews with N = 15 patients. Vignettes were used as guidance. The interviews were transcribed and iteratively analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results

We unraveled three themes: 1) general attitude towards surgical prioritization: patients showed understanding for the difficult decisions to be made, but demanded greater transparency and objectivity; 2) patient-related factors that some particip

SUBMITTER: van Alphen AMIA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10631689 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature