Geriatric Medical Decisions: Factors Influencing Allocation of Scarce Resources and the Decision to Withhold Treatment

The value of different models for predicting treatment decisions of physicians, nurses, and social workers within acute and long term care settings was examined. Treatment choices were elicited to two case vignettes regarding decisions to allocate a scarce medical resource and to withhold treatment from a debilitated patient. Predictors of decisions varied between the vignettes. Primarily medical factors predicted the decision to allocate scarce resources, whereas a combination of medical, societal, and situational factors predicted the decision to withhold treatment.