Intensive care physicians' attitudes concerning distribution of intensive care resources. A comparison of Israeli, North American and European cohorts.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the attitudes of Israeli intensive care physicians regarding intensive care unit (ICU) triage issues.


METHODS
An opinion survey using questionnaires similar to those used in a previous study in the United States.


METHODS
Forty-three physicians, members of the Israel Society of Critical Care Medicine (45%).


RESULTS
Important factors for admission to the last ICU bed were: small likelihood of surviving hospitalization, irreversibility of acute disorder, nature of chronic disorders and the physician's personal attitude. Most respondents would admit a patient with a predicted survival of a few weeks (70%) or a patient whose quality of life would be poor according to the physician's (98%) or patient's (77%) definition, to the last ICU bed. The personal attitude of the respondents and their own view of the patient's quality of life were considered as important as the quality of life as viewed by the patient. Israeli physicians tended to refuse patient admission into the ICU more than their US counterparts. Most Israeli physicians refused to discharge an ICU patient in order to admit another, despite bed shortage.


CONCLUSIONS
The attitudes of Israeli intensive care physicians towards distribution of ICU resources differ from those of their United States counterparts; they are more paternalistic and comply less with requests for admission. Such attitudes are comparable to those expressed by some European intensive care physicians, highlighting the existence of diversity in the factors important to physicians' decision-making.
Einav
Sharon
S
Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Hadassah Medical Center, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, POB 12000, 91120 Jerusalem, Israel. bromi@md2.huji.ac.il
Soudry
Ethan
E
Levin
Phillip D
PD
Grunfeld
Gershon B
GB
Sprung
Charles L
CL
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D007557:Israel; D010343:Patient Admission; D010358:Patient Participation; D040841:Resource Allocation; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014218:Triage; D014481:United States