ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2025
From Challenges to Solutions: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis of Inter-hospital Transfer Processes.
Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 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
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Prevalence and Characteristics of Potentially Avoidable Interhospital Transfers.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Developing sensitive quality indicators for ground inter-hospital transport of adult critically ill patients using Donabedian model.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundInter-hospital transfers (IHT-the transfer of patients between acute care hospitals) are increasingly common. Understanding how to improve IHTs, reduce adverse events, and limit inappropriate transfers remains a top research and clinical practice priority for this high-risk care transition.
objectiveTo identify improvement strategies to address gaps in current IHT practices and describe barriers to implementation of these improvement suggestions.
designA qualitative study using focus groups. Participants Eligible participants were patients, caregivers, transferring physicians who seek to transfer patients, accepting physicians who receive requests for an IHT, and hospital system leaders. Participants were from tertiary/quaternary care hospitals and affiliate referral hospitals in the USA. Approach Case vignettes based on real clinical examples describing distinct IHT scenarios guided focus group discussions, which were facilitated using a semi-structured focus group guide. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.
resultsSeven 1-h focus groups with 39 participants were conducted with 6 Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) members, 9 transferring clinicians, 12 accepting clinicians, and 12 leadership personnel. Participants represented 13 tertiary, quaternary care hospitals and affiliate referral hospitals geographically dispersed across the USA. Participants identified four overarching problems with IHTs: (1) communicating and engaging patients and families, (2) specialist involvement in IHT decision-making processes, (3) communication and information sharing challenges between hospitals, and (4) capacity management. Improvement strategies centered around engaging patients and families consistently in IHT decision-making, increasing the involvement of specialists, and creating standardized approaches to communication, workflows, and handoffs.
conclusionsOur study offers potential solutions to gaps in IHT processes and then proactively identifies potential barriers to these solutions. These findings provide hospital system and clinician leaders with new insights to improve IHTs.
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Registered trials
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.