The Impact of Intra-Hospital Transfers on Patient Outcomes and/or Hospital Costs: A Scoping Review

Whilst the costs of negative patient outcomes have been well researched, little is known about the cost of multiple ward transfers and the development of negative patient outcomes. Therefore, the aim was to systematically review available evidence exploring the cost of multiple intra-hospital transfers and/or the development of negative patient outcomes.

This scoping review and narrative synthesis was reported using the PRISMA-ScR checklist. Studies were identified through five electronic databases up to 2022: Medline (EBSCO), CINAHL (EBSCO), EMBASE, Web of Science, CRD and the International HTA Database.

The database searches identified 4131 articles, and data were extracted for 13 studies. Included studies were published between 2001 and 2019 and conducted in five countries. The results suggested that multiple ward transfers result in an increase in negative patient outcomes, including medication errors, increased length of stay, falls, nosocomial infections, adverse occurrences, being discharged to a place other than their own home, and an increase in hospital costs.

The findings from this review indicate the limited literature on this topic. While patient outcomes may be improved by reducing the number of intra-hospital transfers per hospitalisation, more research is needed on this topic.