Priority Setting of Ventilators in the COVID-19 Pandemic from the public’s perspective

Background Ventilator allocation plan for public health crisis should be developed through recognizing the values of society and engaging the general public. This study was conducted to assess the Iranian citizens’ attitude about a number of principles and criteria for allocation of ventilators in current COVID-19 epidemic. Materials and Methods An electronic self-administered questionnaire was publicly distributed through social networks of Telegram and WhatsApp to perform this cross-sectional study. The questionnaire consisted of 11 statements about the selection and prioritization of patients for the use of a ventilator. Results 1262 persons, including 767 citizens and 495 health care providers participated in this study. More than 95% of participants agreed upon the necessity to avoid discrimination and avoid prioritization according to patients’ gender, economic and political status. While 40.9% of citizens and 49.6% of healthcare workers believed that a ventilator can be disconnected from a patient with a poor prognosis to help a patient who has a better prognosis (P-value=0.13), 34.3% of people and 29.6% of healthcare workers believed that the earlier admitted patients have the right to receive the device even if the likeliness of his/her survival is less than the next patient (P-value=0.009). Conclusions This study showed that people accept maximizing health benefits as a measure of ventilator allocation in the pandemic of COVID-19. At the same time, periodic evaluation of patients and disconnecting the device from a patient that no longer benefits from ICU services requires its scientific and ethical basis to be brought in public discourse.