Transfer

Transfers of patients happen all the time. It’s easy to think about transfers as only those that involve an ambulance and moving patients from one hospital to the next, but in reality it’s far more extensive than that. We all move patients all the time, whether that be the unwell patient in the upstairs of their house to the ambulance, the patient in the Emergency Department to the CT scanner or another ward, or the more traditional interhosptal transfer.

Transfers of patients are inherently high risk times for the patient and having some background knowledge on transfers and a structured approach helps us ensure the best possible care for our patients. In this episode we run through transfers with the help of an expert on the topic, Scott Grier a Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthesia at Southmead Hospital in Bristol, the South West Critical Care Network Lead for Transfer, and a PreHospital Critical Care Doctor with GWAAC.

Enjoy!

Simon, Rob & James

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References

Inter-hospital Transfer; Association of Anaesthetists. 2009Transfer of the Critically Ill Adult. Intensive Care Society

Critical Care Transfer in an English Critical Care Network: Analysis of 1124 Transfers Delivered by an Ad-Hoc System. Grier. J Intensive Care Soc. 2019

Management and Transfer of Patients with a Diagnosis of Ruptured Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm to a Specialist Vascular Centre. RCEM. 2019

The Emergency Department Transfer: Patient, Preparation and People. St.Emlyn’s

Transferring the Critically Ill; LITFL

Complications during intrahospital transport of critically ill patients: Focus on risk identification and prevention. Patrick H Knight. Int J Crit Illn Inj Sci. 2015

Transfer of the critically ill adult patient. S Bourn. BJA Education. 2018