Critical care transfers

Emergency department organisation of critical care transfers in the UK.

OBJECTIVES Transport of the critically ill patient to or from the emergency department (ED) is a frequent occurrence. This study was designed to determine whether UK EDs currently have appropriate equipment, monitoring, staff training systems, and processes of care for transportation of the critically ill patient. METHODS A postal questionnaire regarding ED transfer patients was sent to 247 U...

Critical care transfers – a danger foreseen is half avoided

How good is the care patients receive during interhospital transfer? The results of a study in this journal make for some disturbing reading. Adverse events occur in about one-third of cases. Half the time this can be related to not following advice from the receiving centre. Of these events, 70% are, in the author's opinion, avoidable and 30% are related to technical problems. So how do we mak...

Intensive care transfers

The demand for intensive care has increased relentlessly over the past 30 years. It is now regarded as a necessity rather than a luxury. The provision of intensive care has lagged behind that demand. Thus, patients who are judged to need intensive care when a bed is unavailable are increasingly transferred to another hospital for such care. The present commentary discusses intensive care transf...

Using wireless technologies to improve information flow for interhospital transfers of critical care patients.

Yan Xiao is an associate professor of anesthesiology and information systems and a special member of the faculty of the school of business at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received his doctoral degree in human factors from the University of Toronto in 1994. To contact Dr. Xiao, e-mail [email protected]. nologies are not readily available during transport of critically ill patie...

Transfers of Critical Care Patients Using Wireless Technologies to Improve Information Flow for Interhospital