Physician Perspectives on Interhospital Transfers.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare quality and safety
• Medical transfer protocols
• Patient outcomes

Background:

• Interhospital transfer (IHT) is a common process in acute care.
• Current IHT processes are often non-standardized, leading to variable quality and safety concerns.

Purpose of the Study:

• To survey accepting physicians about problems encountered during the interhospital transfer process.
• To identify specific challenges in IHT that impact patient safety.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional survey was administered to internal medicine, neurology, and surgery residents and attendings.
• Physicians rated the frequency of specific IHT scenarios and their impact on patient safety using Likert scales.

Main Results:

• A 51% response rate was achieved from 284 surveyed physicians.
• Common issues included patients arriving with unrealistic care expectations (77.2%), significant transfer delays (80.1%), and missing transfer records (86.9%).
• Lack of transfer records and late arrival times were frequently identified as patient safety risks.

Conclusions:

• Expectations of care, transfer delays, and information exchange are significant problems in IHT.
• These identified issues represent critical targets for developing interventions to enhance patient safety during transfers.