COVID-19 and the shortages of equipment and supplies like PPE, ventilators, IV pumps, oxygen, and personal protective equipment brought the importance of crisis standards of care (CSC) planning into sharper focus.
JSI was contracted to assist the Vermont Department of Health (VDH) to develop a train-the-trainer program to educate stakeholders on the VT Crisis Standards of Care Plan, including rationale for the plan, ethical underpinnings, and when the plan might be activated. With the arrival of COVID-19 in the United States, however, and the experience with the process of making planning decisions regarding how scarce resources may need to be allocated, the VDH and its CSC Working Group determined that there was a need to first update the plan.
We drew on our expertise in CSC planning and facilitation to assist the CSC Working Group to make updates to the plan’s Scope, Concept of Operations, and Ethical Guidelines and Values sections. To introduce the updated CSC plan to healthcare stakeholders and support the integration of the state plan into Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs) at the organizational level, JSI’s educational design experts developed and introduced a Crisis Standards of Care Workshop In A Box, including videos of VT CSC experts discussing the rationale for CSC, and materials to support facilitation of an in-person or remote scenario-based workshop, including presentation slides, a facilitator’s guide, and a participant feedback form.
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