The impact of referring hospital resources on interfacility overtriage: A population-based analysis.

Injury

Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; ICES, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Critical Care Medicine, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Published: March 2024

Background: Nearly half of patients transferred from non-trauma to trauma centres have minor injuries. The transfer of patients with minor injuries to trauma centres is not associated with any known patient benefit and represents an opportunity to reduce healthcare costs and improve patient experience. In this study, we evaluated the relationship between hospital resources and overtriage, with the objective of identifying targets for system-level intervention.

Methods: We conducted a population-based cohort study of adults, age ≥ 16, presenting with minor injuries to non-trauma centres in Ontario, Canada (2009-2020). The primary outcome was overtriage, defined as transfer to a trauma centre. Hierarchical logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between hospital resources and a patient's likelihood of being overtriaged, adjusting for case-mix.

Results: amongst 165,302 patients with minor injuries, 15,641 (9.5 %) were transferred to a trauma centre (overtriage). Presence of a CT scanner, surgical support, or intensive care unit had no impact on a patient's likelihood of overtriage. Relative to community hospitals, presentation to a teaching hospital was independently associated with greater odds of overtriage (OR 2.97, 95 % CI: 1.26-7.00). Accounting for case-mix and resources, the median difference in a patient's odds of overtriage varied 3.7-fold across non-trauma centres (MOR 3.76).

Conclusions: There is significant variability in overtriage across non-trauma centres, even after adjusting for case-mix and hospital resources. These finding suggests that some centres have developed processes to minimize overtriage independent of available resources. Broad implementation of these processes may represent an opportunity for system-wide quality improvement.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.injury.2024.111332DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

hospital resources
16
minor injuries
16
non-trauma centres
12
overtriage
9
trauma centres
8
patients minor
8
trauma centre
8
patient's likelihood
8
odds overtriage
8
resources
6

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!