Assessing adequacy of emergency provider documentation among interhospital transferred patients with acute aortic dissection

BACKGROUND: Acute aortic dissection(AoD) is a hypertensive emergency often requiring the transfer of patients to higher care hospitals; thus, clinical care documentation and compliance with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act(EMTALA) is crucial. The study assessed emergency providers(EP) documentation of clinical care and EMTALA compliance among interhospital transferred AoD patients.METHODS: This retrospective study examined adult patients transferred directly from a referring emergency department(ED) to a quaternary academic center between January 1, 2011 and September 30, 2015. The primary outcome was the percentage of records with adequate documentation of clinical care(ADoCC). The secondary outcome was the percentage of records with adequate documentation of EMTALA compliance(ADoEMTALA). RESULTS: There were 563 electronically identified patients with 287 included in the final analysis. One hundred and five(36.6%) patients had ADoCC while 166(57.8%) patients had ADoEMTALA. Patients with inadequate documentation of EMTALA(IDoEMTALA) were associated with a higher likelihood of not meeting the American Heart Association(AHA) ED Departure SBP guideline(OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.03–3.2, P=0.04). Male gender, handwritten type of documentation, and transport by air were associated with an increased risk of inadequate documentation of clinical care(IDoCC), while receiving continuous infusion was associated with higher risk of IDoEMTALA.CONCLUSION: Documentation of clinical care and EMTALA compliance by Emergency Providers is poor. Inadequate EMTALA documentation was associated with a higher likelihood of patients not meeting the AHA ED Departure SBP guideline. Therefore, Emergency Providers should thoroughly document clinical care and EMTALA compliance among this critically ill group before transfer.

Patient care during interfacility transport:a narrative review of managing diverse disease states

BACKGROUND:When critically ill patients require specialized treatment that exceeds the capability of the index hospitals,patients are frequently transferred to a tertiary or quaternary hospital for a higher level of care.Therefore,appropriate and efficient care for patients during the process of transport between two hospitals(interfacility transfer)is an essential part of patient care.While medical adverse events may occur during the interfacility transfer process,there have not been evidence-based guidelines regarding the equipment or the practice for patient care during transport.METHODS:We conducted searches from the PubMed,Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health(CINAHL),and Scopus databases up to June 2022.Two reviewers independently screened the titles and abstracts for eligibility.Studies that were not in the English language and did not involve critically ill patients were excluded.RESULTS:The search identified 75 articles,and we included 48 studies for our narrative review.Most studies were observational studies.CONCLUSION:The review provided the current evidence-based management of diverse disease states during the interfacility transfer process,such as proning positioning for respiratory failure,extracorporeal membrane oxygenation(ECMO),obstetric emergencies,and hypertensive emergencies(aortic dissection and spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage).