TY - JOUR
T1 - Secondary Transfers to University Hospitals in Patients Primarily Triaged to District General Hospitals by the Danish Helicopter Emergency Medical Service
T2 - A National Population-Based Study
AU - Adam, Sidsel Bjørgo
AU - Alstrup, Karen
AU - Rognås, Leif
N1 - Funding Information:
S.B.A. and L.R. report no conflict of interests. K.A. has received funding from the Danish Helicopter Emergency Medical Services research foundation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze data from the Danish helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) database, focusing on patients undergoing a secondary transfer from district general hospitals (DGHs) to university hospitals within 24 hours of the initial emergency call. Methods: This is a national population-based study analyzing HEMS patients undergoing a secondary transfer between October 1, 2014, and April 30, 2018. Results: Fifty-three (2.9%) of the 1,846 patients initially triaged to a DGH by the HEMS team required a secondary transfer. These 53 patients constituted 0.7% of all 7,133 patients seen by the HEMS teams during the study period. More than 60% of these patients were initially treated for either a cardiovascular or a neurologic emergency. HEMS-escorted patients had a mortality rate at day 30 of 14.3% (95% confidence interval, 4.8-38.0), and the HEMS-assisted group had a mortality rate at day 30 of 3.1% (95% CI, 0.5-20.2). Conclusion: Patients initially triaged to a DGH by the HEMS teams seldomly required a secondary transfer, indicating a low degree of prehospital undertriage for direct transfer to a university hospital. Cardiovascular or neurologic emergencies were the major reasons for transportation. Mortality seems comparable with that in the general population of patients treated by the Danish HEMS teams.
AB - Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze data from the Danish helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) database, focusing on patients undergoing a secondary transfer from district general hospitals (DGHs) to university hospitals within 24 hours of the initial emergency call. Methods: This is a national population-based study analyzing HEMS patients undergoing a secondary transfer between October 1, 2014, and April 30, 2018. Results: Fifty-three (2.9%) of the 1,846 patients initially triaged to a DGH by the HEMS team required a secondary transfer. These 53 patients constituted 0.7% of all 7,133 patients seen by the HEMS teams during the study period. More than 60% of these patients were initially treated for either a cardiovascular or a neurologic emergency. HEMS-escorted patients had a mortality rate at day 30 of 14.3% (95% confidence interval, 4.8-38.0), and the HEMS-assisted group had a mortality rate at day 30 of 3.1% (95% CI, 0.5-20.2). Conclusion: Patients initially triaged to a DGH by the HEMS teams seldomly required a secondary transfer, indicating a low degree of prehospital undertriage for direct transfer to a university hospital. Cardiovascular or neurologic emergencies were the major reasons for transportation. Mortality seems comparable with that in the general population of patients treated by the Danish HEMS teams.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116730314&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.amj.2021.08.009
DO - 10.1016/j.amj.2021.08.009
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 35248344
AN - SCOPUS:85116730314
SN - 1067-991X
VL - 41
SP - 57
EP - 62
JO - Air Medical Journal
JF - Air Medical Journal
IS - 1
ER -