Overview

• Task:In this activity, you will discuss the decision-making process of allocating resources in a hospital to patients in need or surgery.
• Purpose:This will help you to better understand the complicated nature of decision making within a healthcare setting.

Instructions

By the mid-week deadline: you must make an initial post explaining what criteria you think should be used to decide which patients to save.

You are a member of a hospital resource allocation committee that must decide which three out of seven critical patients will receive immediate life-saving surgery. The hospital has resources to save just three of the seven, but without surgery, all seven patients will die. The situation is further complicated by the fact that a blizzard is raging outside and none of the patients can be transferred to another hospital. All seven are too critically ill to be moved by snowmobile.

Using your group discussion board, decide what criteria will be used to make the decisions (consider age, social standing, the benefit to society, lifestyle, the degree of physical deterioration, etc.)

Listed below is a list of the seven patients. Read through each of the scenarios and choose three patients to receive immediate life-saving surgery within your group.

Patients

1. Sex: Female

Age: 41

History: Married, mother of five

Medical History: Former smoker

Scenario: The patient was skiing and hit a tree, breaking one of her ribs and puncturing both of her lungs, causing her lungs to collapse.

Success Rate: 25%

2. Sex: Male

Age: 62

History: Widower, sole caregiver for his grandson

Medical History: Diabetes

Scenario: The patient was on his ladder putting up Christmas lights when he lost his balance, fell, and hit his head on the ground. As a result, he suffered a severe concussion resulting in a brain hemorrhage.

Estimated Survival Rate: 73%

3. Sex: Female

Age: 22

Past History: Single

Medical History: Taking Aspirin for headaches

Scenario: The patient was driving home from college to visit family for the holidays and fell asleep at the wheel. As a result of her motor vehicle accident, the patient is experiencing internal bleeding. Large amounts of blood are leaking into her abdominal cavity from her ruptured spleen.

Estimated Survival Rate: 40%

4. Sex: Female

Age: 73

History: Married, mother, and grandmother

Medical History: Hypertension and diabetes

Scenario: The patient was in the middle of eating and watching television when the patient experienced a heart attack.

Estimated Success Rate: 52%

5. Sex: Male

Age: 32

History: Single

Medical History: No previous medical conditions

Scenario: The patient is a police officer that was wounded in action. He was shot in the shoulder and in the inner thigh.

Success Rate: 49%

6. Sex: Male

Age: 4

History: Single

Medical History: No previous medical conditions

Scenario: The patient was trying to help his father by putting wood in the fireplace. The little boy tripped and fell in the fireplace leaving third-degree burns on 75% of his body.

Estimated Success Rate: 29%

7. Sex: Female

Age: 16

History: Single

Medical History: Past broken fibula

Scenario: The patient is experiencing pain in the right lower quadrant of her abdomen, abdominal tenderness, vomiting, and fever. The patient presents signs of Appendicitis. If not treated, the appendix could rupture.

Estimated Success Rate: 68%

After discussing your choices with your group, write your decision, and/or discuss the rationale for your choices in a one- to two-page report.