Practice station 5
Ethics and resource allocation
This station focuses on your ability to think critically about ethical dilemmas and resource allocation in medicine.
Run it under timing
Two minutes to read, then eight to answer. Read the questions the way you would on the door, then start the clock and answer out loud. Nothing is recorded and nothing is scored.
The questions
A patient in the emergency department requires immediate care, but resources are limited, and another critical patient arrives. How would you approach this situation?
Describe a time when you had to make a difficult decision that required balancing competing priorities. What factors influenced your decision?
How would you explain your resource allocation decision to the family of a patient who did not receive priority care?
What principles do you think should guide doctors when resources are scarce, such as during a pandemic?
What is being marked here
This station is mostly about the following. They are the same things every station tests, in one combination or another.
- Ethical reasoning. Can you see both sides of a dilemma, name the principle at stake, and reach a decision you can defend?