Covert Triage During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Analysis of Rationing in Intensive Care.

ABSTRACT:

Background

With the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries rushed to implement guidelines for triage. Some were unprepared. In Germany, academic discourse had focused on criteria for triage, while often neglecting their translation into clinically applicable protocols in ICUs.

Research question

How did intensivists in German ICUs experience the institutional implementation of a national triage guideline and how did they respond to the resource constraints during the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Study design and methods

For this qualitative study, we conducted semistructured expert interviews with 14 intensivists from various German hospitals between November 2021 and April 2022. The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) being a senior ICU physi

SUBMITTER: Schmolke EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12833479 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature