Question

should a patient’s developmental disability or mental retardation be a factor in how the triage decisions for the Tamiflu shortages are made.

Answer 1

Developmental disability

Any life disability attributable to mental and or physical impairments, manifested during childhood or later in the human development age.( Mental retardation, impairments in vision, hearing, mobility, chronic disease etc.)

Tamiflu

Tamiflu is the brandname of Oseltamivir, an antiviral drug used to prevent and treat Influenza ( Type A and B).

Triage

The process of sorting patients so as to determine the order in which they will be treated .

Developmental disability and Triage decision for Tamiflu shortage:

Children with developmental disability or mental retardation are more prone to the risk and complications of Influenza. According to US census Bureau, the number of residents with disabilities in nursing home itself 1785000 and 29% of American families have one family member with disability.

A patient 's disability or mental retardation should be a factor in triage decision in Tamiflu shortage,as they are in increased risk for exposure as many of them are living in residential homes and group quarters ( approximately 2.5 million ) in close proximity. During an endemic like flu, many of the staff will be on leave, this will affect the Activities of daily living of the disabled persons , who live in nursing homes.

Many recommendations have been put to increase the attention towards people with disabilities, during an endemic like flu.Federal government is taking the recommendations seriously and numerous policies have been forwarded to seriously consider the people with disabilities during a triage decision making process. Priority will be given to the high risk people like mentally retarded and diffrently abled during a Tamiflu shortage.