Conceptual Proposal of a Hierarchization System for Patients Candidate to Intensive Care Units in Health Catastrophe Situations

Abstract

During the year 2020, the World population has been immersed into a pandemic situation due to the complications derived from the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19). As a consequence of this situation, a world-level public health alert has been activated, implying that national Health systems must adapt to provide for it. COVID-19 meant a challenge for these Health systems, as in the more severe moments of the pandemic a number of situations arose in which there were not enough neither beds, nor staff, to provide a proper care to all the patients that required it. In these situations, it is essential to perform a meticulous and appropriate screening process, as from it depends that the most vulnerable patients showing a better healing probability will be selected, thus avoiding damages that could cost them their life. In these circumstances, it becomes essential to have tools and protocols available to facilitate the triage process that is, in essence, a decision-making problem aimed to establish a hierarchization of cases. In this work a multi-criteria method is conceptually proposed, based on vague numbers that, taking into account the opinions and considerations of multiple experts, allows to establish a hierarchy that establishes priorities towards Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission. Because the method is still under development, it hasn't been possible yet to carry out tests intensively, but it is expected that its usage could help the professionals to make decisions in a faster and safer way, improving the process quality and aiming to avoid potential mistakes.