Understanding citizens preferences for prioritising patients in the face of scarce surgical capacity in the Netherlands: a think-aloud study

07 Jul 20264 min read0 viewsJournal Feed

GIST (Key Takeaways)

Objectives Scarce surgical capacity makes prioritisation decisions unavoidable. During crises, the complexity and societal sensitivity of such decisions become particularly evident, underscoring the importance of engaging multiple stakeholders, including citizens. Citizens may hold different preferences and attach importance to different considerations than physicians regarding what is fair or appropriate when allocating scarce surgical capacity.
This study, therefore, examined which preferences and considerations citizens consider important in decisions about prioritising patients for limited surgical capacity. Design We conducted semi-structured think-aloud interviews in which participants completed two sets of 12 labelled choice tasks derived from a discrete choice experiment. In the first set, they prioritised one of three patients with different conditions (breast cancer, deafness and knee arthrosis) for limited surgical capacity.
In the second, they prioritised one of two patients with the same condition (breast cancer, deafness or knee arthrosis). Setting The setting of the study was in the Netherlands. Participants 25 citizens were purposively sampled.

Clinical Editorial

BMJ Open published a clinical update in Research Highlights on 07 Jul 2026.

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