The Prevalence and Emergency Department Utilization of Patients Who Underwent Single and Double Inter-hospital Transfers in the Emergency Department: a Nationwide Population-based Study in Korea, 2016–2018

ABSTRACT

Background@#Inter-hospital transfer (IHT) for emergency department (ED) admission is a burden to high-level EDs. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and ED utilization patterns of patients who underwent single and double IHTs at high-level EDs in South Korea. @*Methods@#This nationwide cross-sectional study analyzed data from the National Emergency Department Information System for the period of 2016–2018. All the patients who underwent IHT at Level I and II emergency centers during this time period were included. The patients were categorized into the single-transfer and double-transfer groups. The clinical characteristics and ED utilization patterns were compared between the two groups. @*Results@#We found that 2.1% of the patients in the ED (n = 265,046) underwent IHTs; 18.1% of the pediatric patients (n = 3,556), and 24.2% of the adult patients (n = 59,498) underwent double transfers. Both pediatric (median, 141.0 vs. 208.0 minutes, P < 0.001) and adult (median, 189.0 vs. 308.0 minutes, P < 0.001) patients in the double-transfer group had longer duration of stay in the EDs. Patient's request was the reason for transfer in 41.9% of all IHTs (111,076 of 265,046). Unavailability of medical resources was the reason for transfer in 30.0% of the double transfers (18,920 of 64,054). @*Conclusion@#The incidence of double-transfer of patients is increasing. The main reasons for double transfers were patient's request and unavailability of medical resources at the firsttransfer hospitals. Emergency physicians and policymakers should focus on lowering the number of preventable double transfers.