VA Staff Discussion Forums on Ethics Issues in Pandemic Influenza Preparedness

The White House has tasked the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take the lead in developing guidance for allocating scarce health and medical resources during a flu pandemic. In concert with HHS, the National Center for Ethics in Health Care of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will be developing guidance to assist VA facilities.

To raise awareness and understanding about allocation of scarce resources and other difficult clinical and ethical decisions that will need to be made in a pandemic, the Ethics Center and VA's Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards have prepared an educational packet for staff discussion forums on ethics issues in pandemic flu preparedness  [Word].^†

 The packet contains information for forum planners and participants:

For planners:

• Why staff discussion forums are important
• Sample discussion forum agenda
• Sample discussion forum overview
• Planning points for setting up and conducting staff discussion forms
• PowerPoint slides to be used at the forums, Tough Decisions: Preparing VA for the Ethical Challenges of Pandemic Influenza   

For participants:

• Scenarios and questions as a basis for discussing ethical values in influenza pandemic preparedness

In a pandemic flu VHA, like other health care organizations, will face a surge in demand to provide care for large numbers of very sick people with high rates of complications and need for supportive care -- in the context of a highly transmissible disease. The likely demand for resources in excess of those ordinarily used on a daily basis -- i.e., the demand on a health care facility's surge capacity -- means health care standards may need to be altered to respond to the public health threat and the imbalance between care that is needed and the resources available. Tough decisions may need to be made about reporting for duty, mandatory vaccination of health care workers, quarantine, diminished patient privacy, and triage and rationing care.

Through staff discussion forums VA health care providers can share information and concerns, build mutual understanding about the difficult ethical decisions they may have to make, and better prepare to respond to the ethical and professional challenges of a pandemic.

^†The Ethics Center's June 2006 National Ethics Teleconference [Word], provides background information on ethics concerns in pandemic flu preparedness.

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