How do hospitals decide who gets resources like ventilators or limited medication if there is not enough for everyone?

Triage is the system healthcare workers use to decide the order and type of patient treatment based on the how sick or injured each patient is and their chance for recovery. It is used to ration medical care at times when there are not enough medical resources to go around for each sick or injured patient. Triage is also used to decide which patients get an organ for transplantation.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, overwhelmed hospitals with limited medical resources have been forced to use the triage method to determine which patients receive lifesaving resources like ventilators, certain medications, or critical care beds in short supply. A COVID-19 SOS Directive would provide additional information for healthcare workers to consider in the triage process.