Abstract

Faced with pandemic-induced shortages of personnel, equipment and medical supplies, health care providers can attempt to expand supply; to triageTriage supplies in an attempt to use them optimally; or default to a first-come, first-served position in which scarce resources are allocated by luck rather than by design. This chapter looks at each of these approaches as they were used in the US during the pandemicPandemic, with particular attention to ventilatorVentilatorstriageTriageprotocols and do-not-resuscitateDo Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders.