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- Title
The impact of introducing handovers on after-hours patient transfers in an elective surgery centre.
- Authors
Krishna, Sanjeev; Bae, Bryan J. Y.; Coomarasamy, Christin; Stapelberg, Francois; Morton, Randall P.
- Abstract
Background: There has been increasing use of satellite facilities for elective surgery to allow more efficient use of major hospital resources. Manukau Surgical Centre (MSC) is a stand-alone elective surgical centre, which operates in conjunction with Middlemore Hospital (MMH). MSC has limited services, particularly after-hours and clinically unstable patients are required to be transferred to MMH for further management. Purpose: This study evaluated whether the introduction of a formal handover process -- "the huddle" -- had an effect on reducing the proportion of such after-hours transfers. Methods: Patient transfers between MSC and MMH over the periods of August to November 2014 (pre-huddle) and March to June 2015 (posthuddle) were included in the study. Primary outcomes included proportion of after-hours transfers (as a function of total transfers). Secondary outcomes included monthly transfer rate. Results: There were no significant differences in the proportion of after-hours transfers between pre- and post-huddle months with an odds ratio of 0.898 (p = 0.76). Monthly transfers overall were also not statistically different. There was a significant increase (22.5%) in the number of patients being transferred for further radiological investigations (p = 0.033). In addition, there was a significant increase in the proportion of transfers under the presumed diagnosis of venous thromboembolism (VTE) of 23.4% (p = 0.0023). Conclusions: The "huddle" did not demonstrate significant differences in reducing the proportion of after-hour transfers from MSC to MMH. However, there were significantly more transfers that required radiological investigations as well as transfers under the presumptive diagnosis of VTE.
- Subjects
ELECTIVE surgery; TRANSFER functions; THROMBOEMBOLISM
- Publication
Day Surgery Australia, 2018, Vol 17, Issue 2, p9
- ISSN
1446-8999
- Publication type
Article