Hospital transfers for evaluation and treatment of hand infections: Are all transfers necessary?

Hand infections represent a common hand condition in the emergency department and one that frequently requires a hand specialist. The purpose of our study is to analyze hospital transfers for hand infections with a primary outcome being potential clinically avoidable transfers and to identify areas for improvement in the care of hand infections.

Retrospective review of The Texas Healthcare Information Collection Database from 2015 to 2019. We analyzed all transfers for hand infections. Statistical analyses included: Transfer diagnosis, surgical interventions, length of stay (LOS), the day of the week that the transfer was initiated and whether or not the transfer or centralization was necessary or potentially avoidable.

A total of 3489 patients were transferred from one hospital to another for the management of a hand infection. 1628 (46.6 ​%) underwent at least one surgical intervention and 1861 (53.3 ​%) were treated non-operatively. Patients undergoing operative interventions had a lower LOS compared to those non-operatively. Transfers admitted during the weekend had decreased average LOS relative to non-weekend transfers, but a 94.7 ​% increased odds of receiving a relevant surgical intervention during the hospital admission. Nearly all patients were transferred to urban region hospitals. Of total, 1194 (34.22 ​%) were considered potentially avoidable centralizations, which we defined as transfer that resulted in no surgical intervention and discharge to home within 72 ​h.

Although the reason for centralization was unknown, our analysis showed a high number of transfers that could have been potentially avoidable. We propose the development of specific guidelines, and perhaps the use of remote consultations for areas where hand specialist are not reliably available to help optimize the care of patient with hand infections.