The 52nd Meeting of the VT and NH Ethics Committees – The Ethics of Rationing

Thursday, April 7, 2022, 12:00 PM - Sunday, April 6, 2025, 5:00 PM

AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ (1.00 hours), ANCC Nursing Contact Hours (1.00 hours), CME-Designated Participation Credit (1.00 hours)

This session will discuss ethical approaches to rationing during the COVID-19 pandemic, including rationing medical treatments for COVID-19 and ethical approaches to the nursing staffing crisis. We will build on lessons learned in that experience to reflect on scarcity and health inequities we face every day. 

Presenter(s)
Karen Clements, BSN, MSB, MHCDS, RN, FACHE – CNO, Department of Nursing, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH 

Tim Lahey, MD, MMSc - Director of Ethics & Professor of Medicine, University of Vermont Medical Center, Burlington, VT

Evie Marcolini, MD, FAAEM, FACEP, FCCM - Staff Physician, Emergency Department, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH; Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Neuro-critical Care, Geisel School of Medicine, Hanover, NH; Board of Directors, American Academy of Emergency Medicine

Catherine D. Shubkin, MD, FAAP, HCE-C – Staff Physician, Pediatrics; Vice-Chair of Education, The Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock, Lebanon, NH; Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Geisel School of Medicine, Hanover, NH;

Robert W. Tichner, MSW, LICSW- Manager and Social Worker, Office of Care Management, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH

Learning Outcome(s)
At the conclusion of this learning activity, (at least 75% of) participants will be able to discuss the ethical principles that guide fair and transparent rationing of healthcare needs, such as medical treatment and safe staffing ratios. 

Bibliographic Sources
* Fair Allocation of Scarce Medical Resources in the Time of Covid-19 | NEJM, May 21, 2020, N Engl J Med 2020; 382:2049-2055 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMsb2005114

* Ethical rationing of healthcare resources during COVID-19 outbreak: Review, G. Srinivas, R. Maanasa, M. Meenakshi, J.M. Adaikalam, S. Seshayyan, T. Muthuvel,Ethical rationing of healthcare resources during COVID-19 outbreak: Review, Ethics, Medicine and Public Health,  Volume 16,2021,100633,ISSN 2352-5525.

* Moral judgments in the rationing of health care resources: a comparative study of clinical health professionals, Foster LW, McLellan LJ. Moral judgments in the rationing of health care resources: a comparative study of clinical health professionals. Soc Work Health Care. 1997;25(4):13-36. doi: 10.1300/J010v25n04_02. PMID: 9385706. 

* Access to Healthcare during COVID-19, Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(6), 2980;

Dartmouth Health is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Dartmouth Health designated this Enduring Material for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits^TM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Dartmouth Health Nursing Continuing Education Council is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.

This educational activity carries 1.0 contact hour.

Registration/Requirements for Successful Completion
You may claim credit for successful completion of this online course. In order to claim credit, you must follow these steps:
1. Register for the learning activity by creating an account or logging in to your account.
2. Click Tests and then View Content to view the recording. View the entire presentation.
3. Complete the Post-Test attestation.
4. Click My Account in the menu bar; then click Evaluation.
5. Complete and Submit the Evaluation.

Provider Contact Information
For questions of the activity or regarding accreditation: 

Director of Continuing Nursing Education, Center for Nursing Excellence
Center for Learning and Professional Development
Dartmouth Health
[email protected]