Prioritization of intensive care in an extreme pandemic context: 1) modeling/simulation of different strategies for prioritizing access to intensive care and 2) democratic deliberations of stakeholders on the values ​​underlying the models and their health impacts.

Faced with a potential shortage, one of the strategies considered in this COVID-19 pandemic has been the development of triage (or prioritization) protocols for access to intensive care. Quebec and Ontario have each designed an adult prioritization protocol for access to intensive care in an extreme pandemic context that aims to allocate resources to reduce mortality while being fair and equitable. Fortunately, neither of these protocols has ever been implemented. Consequently, we do not have data on the impacts that their implementation would have had. We also do not know what the population thinks of them. These protocols have not been the subject of a formal public consultation process. What do the people targeted by the protocol say? This project aims to carry out: 1) a mathematical modeling/simulation of two prioritization strategies (application of the adult protocol and the first-come, first-served principle) for comparative purposes; 2) democratic deliberations with members of the public based on the results of the modeling of the two prioritization strategies and on the values ​​underlying them. Simulating different prioritization strategies will generate objective data on their health impacts (number of lives saved). Submitting the content of the protocols to deliberation will allow for informed feedback from the public in order to bring out the most optimal model.