Physician-assisted interhospital transfer-an analysis from Schleswig-Holstein

Abstract

The need for interhospital transport (IHT) of intensive care patients is increasing due to changes in the hospital environment. Interhospital transports are challenging and require careful operational planning of personnel and rescue vehicles. To investigate the need for IHT, an analysis was conducted in the service area of the emergency medical service central dispatch center (IRLS) in Schleswig-Holstein. Emergency physician-assisted IHT were analyzed in the period from 01.10.2021 to 30.09.2022. Of atotal of 158,823 documented IRLS missions, 2264 (1.4%) records could be identified and included as IHT: 1389IHT (61.4%) were managed by specialized ambulances, 875(38.6%) by primary care ambulances. Primary care ambulances were mainly used for time-critical transfers and outside the duty hours of the intensive care ambulances, 21.2 % were by air. Of all IHT, 43.1% were required to hospitals with ahigher level of medical care. Emergency physician-assisted IHT are arelevant part of the emergency service's operational spectrum and concern both primary care and specialized rescue vehicles. Arelevant number of urgent IHT were recorded outside the duty hours of the intensive care ambulances. For emergency transports during nighttime, an expansion of air-based transfer capacities should be considered due to the time advantage. For less urgent IHT, an adjustment of the capacities of specialized ground-based vehicles in Schleswig-Holstein seems reasonable.