Over the past two years, the Department of Public Health has lead a workgroup comprised of representatives from other state agencies, hospitals, academic institutions, long-term care facilities, regional planning committees, and professional and trade associations to discuss how a prolonged public health emergency will affect the ability of health professionals and institutions to provide care.
Standards of Care: Providing Health Care during a Prolonged Public Health Emergency provides an ethical framework for decision-making during lengthy public health emergencies, and will serve as a guide to health care providers for allocating resources and modifying standard practices.
As this document may shape decision-making during public health emergencies, it was important to the workgroup that feedback be provided not only by health professionals, but by the people of Connecticut as well. The public was invited to submit comments to the document. All comments were reviewed and revisions were made to the document based on the comments.
In addition, the Department of Public Health held five regional forums throughout the state. The forums provided 1) an overview of the paper, 2) answered key questions, 3) motivated stakeholders to plan for such emergencies, and 4) motivated stakeholders to provide comments on the draft Whitepaper.
To view the document go to: http://www.ct.gov/dph/lib/dph/legal/standards_of_care_final.pdf
Survey:
If you received a red binder from the Department of Public Health and would like to complete our survey, please go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6BWHFLC
Other Documents:
Crisis Standards of Care Conference Presentations (CHA, 2/4/2010)
- Altered Standards of Care (Kathryn Brimsfield, MD, MPH, Office of Health Affairs)
- Crisis Standards of Care: A Review of the IOM Report [And Reflections from Haiti] (Dan Hanfling, MD)
- Disaster Alternate Care Facilities: The Old, The New & The Difficult (Stephen V. Cantrill, MD, FACEP, Department of Emergency Medicine, Denver Health Medical Center)
Additional Resources on Standard of Care
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Guidance for Establishing Crisis Standards of Care for Use in Disaster Situations: A Letter Report (Institute of Medicine 2009)
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Crisis Standards of Care: Summary of a Workshop Series (Institute of Medicine 2010)
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For the Good of Us All: Ethically Rational Health Resources in Minnesota in a Severe Influenza Pandemic; for the Minnesota Pandemic Ethics Project: A collaboration of the Minnesota Center for Health Care Ethics and the University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics 2009.
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Emanuel and Wertheimer, Who Should get Influenza Vaccine When Not All Can? Science, 12 May 2006, Vol. 312. Summary; Reprint; Full text
Video
- Presentation of Standards of Care During Prolonged Health Emergencies Whitepaper (3/25/10, Yale West Campus, Orange, CT, 40 minutes) (PowerPoint presentation)