Crisis standards of care: A toolkit for indicators and triggers

The purpose of the report is to prepare a conversation toolkit to guide stakeholders through the process of developing indicators and triggers that guide the implementation of crisis standards of care (CSC) in case of an emergency. Planning for situations of disrupted and stressed health care systems is crucial in order to provide the best possible health care during a crisis. 

The main areas approached by the toolkit in the report are: emergency management, public and behavioural health, emergency medical services, hospital and acute care, and out-of-hospital care. 

The report builds upon two previous reports on crisis standards of care: Guidance for Establishing Crisis Standards of Care for Use in Disaster Situations (2009), which presented key concepts related to CSC, and Crisis Standards of Care: A Systems Framework for Catastrophic Disaster Response (2012), which further developed an operational framework for planning for and implementing CSC.