Altered Standards of Care / Crisis Care

The Most Difficult Healthcare Decisions

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Altered Standards of Care / Crisis Care

By: Kenneth Iserson

MD, MBA, FACEP, FAAEM

Professor of Emergency Medicine

Director, Arizona Bioethics ProgramThe University of Arizona

The series " The Most Difficult Healthcare Decisions" was developed and presented by Dr. Iserson.

Crisis Standards of Care

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The Institute of Medicine’s Preparedness Forum released the Crisis Standards of Care workshop summary on November 17. The document provides a review of the issues that were discussed and identified at the regional meetings. It also highlights and expands upon many of the themes that were identified in the recent IOM letter report on Establishing Guidance for Crisis Standards of Care.

To help bridge these two documents the workshop summary includes an appendix B that summarizes the letter report. Right now the workshop summary is available only as pre-publication copy, meaning it has not been fully formatted for final publication. However, the content will not change and it is expected the final book will be published by early 2010.

Download the summary

The ESCAPE Project - Crisis Care Guidelines

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The ESCAPE Project’s Crisis Care Guidelines have been completed in draft form and comments are now being solicited. Comments are due by September 7th.

Download the guidelines and comment form

Ethical Considerations in Preparedness Planning for Pandemic Influenza

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Altered Standards of Care / Crisis Care

Download the presentation: "Stand on Guard for Thee"

Altered Standards of Care

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Starting in 2006, the American Nurses Association (ANA) embarked on a new effort to significantly engage registered nurses and the nursing profession in ANA’s policy development process on a timely policy issue impacting the profession.

ANA’s policy conference "Nursing Care in Life, Death and Disaster" and the resulting policy document, "Adapting Standards of Care under Extreme Conditions: Guidance for Professionals During Disasters, Pandemics, and Other Extreme Emergencies", are the first in a series of policy conferences convened by ANA to engage and involve the nursing public.

This resulting policy document speaks to individual health professionals who find themselves providing care during an extreme emergency when the usual resources – both human and material – may not be available. In these circumstances, health care providers may be presented with obstacles and challenges related to the standard of care that may be reasonably provided.