ArticleMedical care2011
Which patients and where: a qualitative study of patient transfers from community hospitals.
Article in Medical care, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
55 citing papers in PubMed, 134 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and Characteristics of Potentially Avoidable Interhospital Transfers.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Reconstructing healthcare networks from patient transfer data: A systematic review.PLOS digital health · 2026Article
- Interorganisational Patient Safety Incident Reports: An Analytical Perspective.Scandinavian journal of caring sciences · 2026Article
- Obligated To Say "Yes": The How and Why Behind Transfer Decisions in Moribund Patients.The western journal of emergency medicine · 2026Article
- From Challenges to Solutions: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis of Inter-hospital Transfer Processes.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
- Re-envisioning interhospital transfer: A qualitative study exploring alternatives to transfer.Journal of hospital medicine · 2025Article
- In-Hospital Mortality Risk Among Transfers to Cardiac Intensive Care Units.JACC. Advances · 2025Article
- Health Insurance and Interhospital Transfer for Critically Ill Patients With Respiratory Failure.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Development of a Tool to Measure Potentially Inappropriate Inter-Hospital Transfer (IHT): The POINT Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
- Factors associated with delayed referrals of patients with sepsis from primary to tertiary healthcare in Blantyre, Malawi: a qualitative study.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- The Impact of Hospital Affiliation on Hospital Transfer Practices.Health services insights · 2025Article
- Information exchange, responsibilities and expectation management in interhospital transfers: a qualitative study of hospital medicine physicians and advanced practice providers.BMJ open quality · 2024Article
- Patient and Hospital Characteristics Associated With the Interhospital Transfer of Adult Patients With Sepsis.Critical care explorations · 2023Article
- Inter-hospital Transfer Decision-making During the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Qualitative Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2023Article
- Hospital factors that influence ICU admission decision-making: a qualitative study of eight hospitals.Intensive care medicine · 2023Article
- Operation of national coordinating service for interhospital transfer from emergency departments: experience and implications from Korea.BMC emergency medicine · 2023Article
- Documenting surgical triage in rural surgical networks: Formalising existing structures.The Australian journal of rural health · 2022Article
- "Our Hands Are Tied Until Your Doctor Gets Here": Nursing Perspectives on Inter-hospital Transfers.Journal of general internal medicine · 2022Article
- Patient and Physician Experience with Interhospital Transfer: A Qualitative Study.Journal of patient safety · 2021Article
- Making sense of the French public hospital system: a network-based approach to hospital clustering using unsupervised learning methods.BMC health services research · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundInterhospital transfer of patients is a routine part of the care at community hospitals, but the current process may lead to suboptimal patient outcomes. A microlevel analysis of the processes of patient transfer has not earlier been carried out. RESEARCH
designWe conducted semistructured qualitative interviews with care providers at 3 purposively sampled community hospitals to describe patient transfer mechanisms, focusing on perceptions of transfers and transfer candidates, choice of transfer destination, and perceived process. We interviewed physicians, nurses, and care technicians from emergency departments and intensive care units at the hospitals, and analyzed the resultant transcripts by content analysis.
resultsAppropriate triage and the transfer of patients was a highly valued skill at the community hospitals. On the basis of participant accounts, the transfer process had 4 components: (1) Identifying transfer-eligible patients; (2) Identifying a destination hospital; (3) Negotiating the transfer; and (4) Accomplishing the transfer. There were common challenges at each component across hospitals. Protocolization of care was perceived to substantially facilitate transfers. Informal arrangements played a key role in the identification of the receiving hospital, but patient preferences and hospital quality were not discussed as important in decision making. The process of arranging a patient transfer placed a significant burden on the staff of community hospitals.
conclusionsThe patient transfer process is often cumbersome, varies by condition, and may not be focused on optimizing patient outcomes. Development of a more fluid transfer infrastructure may aid in implementing policies such as selective referral and regionalization.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.