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Who should receive treatment? Healthcare professionals’ perspectives surrounding the medical management of patients with COVID-19

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented challenges for healthcare systems worldwide. This pandemic is much more than a health crisis; it has also raised many ethical challenges. The large number of infected patients amid scarce resources has placed healthcare professionals in...

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Autores principales: Almutairi, Adel F, BaniMustafa, Ala’a, Alessa, Yousef M, Alahmad, Ghiath
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Dove 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8420774/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34512053
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S325312
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author Almutairi, Adel F
BaniMustafa, Ala’a
Alessa, Yousef M
Alahmad, Ghiath
author_facet Almutairi, Adel F
BaniMustafa, Ala’a
Alessa, Yousef M
Alahmad, Ghiath
author_sort Almutairi, Adel F
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented challenges for healthcare systems worldwide. This pandemic is much more than a health crisis; it has also raised many ethical challenges. The large number of infected patients amid scarce resources has placed healthcare professionals in a critical situation in which they have to make difficult decisions about how to prioritize their patients. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the ethical challenges experienced and perceived by healthcare professionals working in healthcare institutions and research centers in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted individually with frontline healthcare providers (physicians and nurses), researchers, and decision-makers involved in the management of COVID-19 cases. Each interview lasted up to 90 minutes. The thematic analysis technique was used to analyse the interview data. FINDINGS: The participants’ rich experiences, which revealed a number of ethical challenges concerning the provision of medical care to infected patients, were framed around four main themes: treatment challenges related to COVID-19 patients, uncertainty of the medical outcome, medical care discrimination, and decision to discontinue medical treatment. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed huge ethical challenges for healthcare professionals that might lead to psychological issues given the emotional toll related to making life-and-death decisions. RECOMMENDATION: In a situation where no reliable and certain treatment is known or well tested, establishing centralized and responsive ethical committees could help reassure and guide practitioners and address their concerns.
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spelling pubmed-84207742021-09-09 Who should receive treatment? Healthcare professionals’ perspectives surrounding the medical management of patients with COVID-19 Almutairi, Adel F BaniMustafa, Ala’a Alessa, Yousef M Alahmad, Ghiath Risk Manag Healthc Policy Original Research BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented challenges for healthcare systems worldwide. This pandemic is much more than a health crisis; it has also raised many ethical challenges. The large number of infected patients amid scarce resources has placed healthcare professionals in a critical situation in which they have to make difficult decisions about how to prioritize their patients. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the ethical challenges experienced and perceived by healthcare professionals working in healthcare institutions and research centers in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted individually with frontline healthcare providers (physicians and nurses), researchers, and decision-makers involved in the management of COVID-19 cases. Each interview lasted up to 90 minutes. The thematic analysis technique was used to analyse the interview data. FINDINGS: The participants’ rich experiences, which revealed a number of ethical challenges concerning the provision of medical care to infected patients, were framed around four main themes: treatment challenges related to COVID-19 patients, uncertainty of the medical outcome, medical care discrimination, and decision to discontinue medical treatment. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed huge ethical challenges for healthcare professionals that might lead to psychological issues given the emotional toll related to making life-and-death decisions. RECOMMENDATION: In a situation where no reliable and certain treatment is known or well tested, establishing centralized and responsive ethical committees could help reassure and guide practitioners and address their concerns. Dove 2021-09-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8420774/ /pubmed/34512053 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S325312 Text en © 2021 Almutairi et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) ). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php).
spellingShingle Original Research
Almutairi, Adel F
BaniMustafa, Ala’a
Alessa, Yousef M
Alahmad, Ghiath
Who should receive treatment? Healthcare professionals’ perspectives surrounding the medical management of patients with COVID-19
title Who should receive treatment? Healthcare professionals’ perspectives surrounding the medical management of patients with COVID-19
title_full Who should receive treatment? Healthcare professionals’ perspectives surrounding the medical management of patients with COVID-19
title_fullStr Who should receive treatment? Healthcare professionals’ perspectives surrounding the medical management of patients with COVID-19
title_full_unstemmed Who should receive treatment? Healthcare professionals’ perspectives surrounding the medical management of patients with COVID-19
title_short Who should receive treatment? Healthcare professionals’ perspectives surrounding the medical management of patients with COVID-19
title_sort who should receive treatment? healthcare professionals’ perspectives surrounding the medical management of patients with covid-19
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8420774/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34512053
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S325312
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