A retrospective observational study examining interhospital transfers from six New Zealand rural hospitals in 2019.
New Zealand
interhospital transfers
rural communities
rural generalism
rural hospital practice
Journal
The Australian journal of rural health
ISSN: 1440-1584
Titre abrégé: Aust J Rural Health
Pays: Australia
ID NLM: 9305903
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Oct 2023
Oct 2023
Historique:
revised:
04
07
2023
received:
28
02
2023
accepted:
09
07
2023
medline:
23
10
2023
pubmed:
26
7
2023
entrez:
26
7
2023
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
The aim of this study was to identify the percentage of patients that were transferred from rural hospitals and who received an investigation or intervention at an urban hospital that was not readily available at the rural hospital. A retrospective observational study. Patients were randomly selected and clinical records were reviewed. Patient demographic and clinical information was collected, including any interventions or investigations occurring at the urban referral hospital. These were compared against the resources available at the rural hospitals. Six New Zealand (NZ) rural hospitals were included. Patients that were transferred from a rural hospital to an urban hospital between 1 Jan 2019 and 31 December 2019 were included. The primary outcome measure was the percentage of patients who received an investigation or intervention that was not available at the rural hospital. There were 584 patients included. Overall 73% of patients received an intervention or investigation that was not available at the rural hospital. Of the six rural hospitals, there was one outlier, where only 37% of patients transferred from that hospital received an investigation or intervention that was not available rurally. Patients were most commonly referred to general medicine (23%) and general surgery (18%). Of the investigations or interventions performed, 43% received a CT scan and 25% underwent surgery. Most patients that are transferred to urban hospitals receive an intervention or investigation that was not available at the rural hospital.
Types de publication
Observational Study
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Pagination
921-931Informations de copyright
© 2023 The Authors. Australian Journal of Rural Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of National Rural Health Alliance Ltd.
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