Relation between emergency department caseload and transfers from regional to other hospitals

Álvarez Rodríguez C, Vázquez Lima MJ

Objectives: To determine whether higher emergency department volume in regional

hospitals generates a larger number of interhospital transfers and whether the referring

hospital’s resources influence the number of transfers ordered.

Methods: Descriptive, analytic study of a nonprobabilistic sample. The study was carried

out in stages in 12 selected hospitals that were members of the regional hospital study

group (GEMUHC, an interest section of the Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine

([SEMES]). Information was collected on the number of emergencies attended, the

number of transfers, the size of the regional hospital, and the availability of an intensive

care unit (ICU) in the regional hospital. Correlations between the studied variables were

calculated, with statistical significance set at P<.05. Results: Good correlation was observed between the volume of emergencies attended and the number of transfers carried out in the hospitals inside and outside Galicia. For hospitals without an ICU outside Galicia, the correlation was nearly perfect. When hospitals were grouped by size, there was high correlation between the 2 aforementioned variables and the number of transfers ordered by both small- and medium-sized hospitals. Conclusions: The volume of interhospital transfers is directly proportional to the number of emergencies attended. The various regional hospitals all behave similarly, according to their size, location, and resources.

Vázquez Lima MJ, Álvarez Rodríguez C