The Italian document: decisions for intensive care when there is an imbalance between care needs and resources during the COVID-19 pandemic

June 29, 2021

Luifi Riccioni, Francesca Ingravallo, Giacomo Grasselli, Davide Mazzon, Emiliano Congolani, Gabrio Forti, Vladimiro Zagrebelksy, Riccardo Zoja, and Flavia Petrini.

Springer

Riccioni et al. published an Italian document for health professionals to appropriately respond to the imbalance of availability of resources and the need for intensive care unit (ICU) admission during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their main objectives were to provide a shared language and decision-making criteria addressing ICU admission and to establish trust among health workers. Using the Delphi methodology and the support of a working group made up of a experts of law, medicine, and intensive care/anesthesia, they developed statements in five areas: principles and responsibilities; triage; previously expressed wishes; reassessment and shifting to palliative care; and collegiality and transparency of decision-making. The document underwent a public consultation with eight different stakeholders from different medical, religious, and ethics organizations. Overall, most stakeholders highly agreed with the statements and only highlighted a few areas of criticism, one of which included a more thorough analysis when addressing ethical issues. One stakeholder disagreed with a statement related to triage. The working group considered all the stakeholders’ comments and submitted for publication Italian National Institute of Health (ISS) National Center for Clinical Excellence, quality and safety of care (CNEC). The findings of this paper indicated that much of the criteria related to triage was applicable for addressing resource shortages during COVID-19 and should be made available to everyone needing intensive care. This document serves as a recommendation in Italy for healthcare professionals addressing resource shortage in the ICU during COVID-19.

Riccioni, L., Ingravallo, F., Grasselli, G. et al. The Italian document: decisions for intensive care when there is an imbalance between care needs and resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ann. Intensive Care 11, 100 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13613-021-00888-4

Partners