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Comment
. 2005 Aug;9(4):343-4.
doi: 10.1186/cc3773. Epub 2005 Jul 12.

Critical care transfers - a danger foreseen is half avoided

Philip Haji-Michael  1
Affiliations
Comment

Critical care transfers - a danger foreseen is half avoided

Philip Haji-Michael. Crit Care. 2005 Aug.

Abstract

How good is the care patients receive during interhospital transfer? The results of a study in this journal make for some disturbing reading. Adverse events occur in about one-third of cases. Half the time this can be related to not following advice from the receiving centre. Of these events, 70% are, in the author's opinion, avoidable and 30% are related to technical problems. So how do we make things better? All transfer equipment needs to be standardized and be "fit-for-purpose". Each hospital needs to take responsibility for the quality of care received in transfer, and this should include guidelines, training and equipment.

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References

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