• Lly Lee, Wyl Lo, Kl Yeung, E Kalinowski, Syh Tang, and Jts Chan.
• Emergency Department, Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital (Lee LLY, Lo WYL, Yeung KL, Chan JTS); Department of Emergency Medical Services, Kapiolani Community College, University of Hawaii, Honolulu Hawaii(Kalinowski E); Emergency Department, Pok Oi Hospital (Tang SYH).
• World J Emerg Med. 2010 Jan 1;1(1):49-52.

BackgroundThe role of Inter-facility transport (IFT) of patients is an emerging specialty requiring service reorganization, diversion of major trauma to trauma center. This study aimed to determine the patients who are more prone to en route adverse event during the period of 22:00 to 07:00, based on critical in-patient needs provided by the Emergency Department (ED) nursing staff at Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital (AHNH).MethodsThis study included all 22:00 to 07:00 IFTs accompanied by ED nurses at AHNH for a period of 28 months from August 2006 until December 2008. The transports were reviewed for: (1) age, (2) gender, (3) transport configuration, (4) clinical category, and (5) physiological instability before transport.ResultsA total of 79 patients were transported during the 22:00 to 07:00 timeframe within the study period. The types of patients were mainly neurosurgical emergencies (n=32; 40.5%), surgical emergencies (n=28; 35.4%), and upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) (n=11; 13.9%). En route adverse events were encountered by the accompanying nurses in 16 transports (20.3%) with a higher incidence of adverse events during transport of surgical emergencies, UGIB and patients who were physiological unstable before transport (P< 0.05).ConclusionA specialized transport team from the ED can assist other clinical departments by providing expert care during IFT. In spite of the high quality of care, adverse events do commonly occur.

2 keywords...

hide…