Reasons underlying interhospital transfers to an academic medical intensive care unit

Interhospital critical care transfers are common, yet few studies address the underlying reasons for transfers. We examined clinician and patient/surrogate perceptions about interhospital transfers and assessed their agreement on these transfers.

This is a mixed-mode survey of 3 major stakeholders in interhospital transfers to an academic medical intensive care unit from August 2007 to April 2008.

Sixty-two hospitals transferred 138 patients during the study period. Response rates varied among stakeholders (accepting physician, 90%; referring physicians, 20%; patients/surrogates, 33%). All 3 groups frequently endorsed quality of care and need for a specific test/procedure as important. Referring hospital reputation and quality were rarely endorsed. Accepting physicians and patients/surrogates substantially agreed on the need for a specific test (κ = 0.70) and increased survival (κ = 0.78) but, otherwise, had fair to poor agreement. Referring physicians and patients/surrogates rarely agreed and sometimes disagreed greater than expected by chance (κ < 0). Physician pairs strongly agreed on the importance of accepting hospital experience (κ = 0.96) but agreed less on patient satisfaction at the referring hospital (κ = 0.37) and referring hospital reputation (κ = 0.35).

Stakeholders do not always agree on the reasons for critical care transfers. Efforts to improve communication are warranted to ensure informed patient choices.