Criteria for referring patients to Intensive Care Units
Resumo
Abstract
The shortage of resources in the healthcare sector often leads to situations where patients are exposed to extreme conditions while healthcare professionals have to deal with technical and ethical dilemmas such as the indication of patients to intensive care units. A descriptive, quantitative and qualitative, conducted at the Health Department of the Federal District. It was used a questionnaire developed for this study. Fourteen physicians and 40 nurses answered the questionnaire. Patients with acute, potentially reversible disease and young adults are the ones who are more likely to be referred to the ICU, unlike the elderly, chronically ill and with potentially irreversible disease. Marital status, educational level, socioeconomic level, race/color, use of licit or illicit drugs do not influence. The decision to refer patients to intensive care units is usually in the hands of the physician treating the patient and this decision is based only on clinical criteria and the patient age.
Key-words: Intensive care units. Resource allocation. Public Health. Clinical ethics. Bioethics.
The shortage of resources in the healthcare sector often leads to situations where patients are exposed to extreme conditions while healthcare professionals have to deal with technical and ethical dilemmas such as the indication of patients to intensive care units. A descriptive, quantitative and qualitative, conducted at the Health Department of the Federal District. It was used a questionnaire developed for this study. Fourteen physicians and 40 nurses answered the questionnaire. Patients with acute, potentially reversible disease and young adults are the ones who are more likely to be referred to the ICU, unlike the elderly, chronically ill and with potentially irreversible disease. Marital status, educational level, socioeconomic level, race/color, use of licit or illicit drugs do not influence. The decision to refer patients to intensive care units is usually in the hands of the physician treating the patient and this decision is based only on clinical criteria and the patient age.
Key-words: Intensive care units. Resource allocation. Public Health. Clinical ethics. Bioethics.