Allocation of Treatment Slots in Elective Mental Health Care-Are Waiting Lists the Ethically Most Appropriate Option?

Détails

Ressource 1Télécharger: Haustein and Jox AJOB 2024.pdf (1096.01 [Ko])
Etat: Public
Version: Final published version
Licence: CC BY 4.0
ID Serval
serval:BIB_78F2B683A2AD
Type
Article: article d'un périodique ou d'un magazine.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Titre
Allocation of Treatment Slots in Elective Mental Health Care-Are Waiting Lists the Ethically Most Appropriate Option?
Périodique
The American journal of bioethics
Auteur⸱e⸱s
Haustein T., Jox R.J.
ISSN
1536-0075 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
1526-5161
Statut éditorial
In Press
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Langue
anglais
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article
Publication Status: aheadofprint
Résumé
Waiting lists are a standard approach to managing excess demand in elective health care. While waiting times are an important policy issue, the ethical validity of the first come, first served (FCFS) principle as such is rarely questioned. Presenting a psychiatric day hospital where all eligible patients have roughly equal claims as a case study, we criticize the reflex use of FCFS for allocation of elective psychiatric care, consider conditions under which this may not be the optimal strategy, and discuss alternatives. We conclude that in our example prioritizing more recent referrals (last come, first served [LCFS]) makes more sense, clinically and ethically. Where several referrals arrive (near-)simultaneously under LCFS, we propose that a higher level of scrutiny be applied to detect possible good reasons for prioritizing one of them. We believe that our observations can be applied to other health care settings that share relevant characteristics with our case.
Mots-clé
Allocation, day hospital, first come, first served, last come, first served, psychiatry, waiting list
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Oui
Création de la notice
28/10/2024 15:00
Dernière modification de la notice
11/12/2024 7:11
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