1. Patient, family and provider experiences with transfers from intensive care unit to hospital ward: a multicentre qualitative study.
- Author
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de Grood, Chloe, Leigh, Jeanna Parsons, Bagshaw, Sean M., Dodek, Peter M., Fowler, Robert A., Forster, Alan J., Boyd, Jamie M., and Stelfox, Henry T.
- Subjects
INTENSIVE care units ,INTENSIVE care patients ,HOSPITAL wards ,KNOWLEDGE transfer - Abstract
Background: Transfer of patient care from an intensive care unit (ICU) to a hospital ward is often challenging, high risk and inefficient. We assessed patient and provider perspectives on barriers and facilitators to high-quality transfers and recommendations to improve the transfer process.Methods: We conducted semistructured interviews of participants from a multicentre prospective cohort study of ICU transfers conducted at 10 hospitals across Canada. We purposively sampled 1 patient, 1 family member of a patient, 1 ICU provider, and 1 ward provider at each of the 8 English-speaking sites. Qualitative content analysis was used to derive themes, subthemes and recommendations.Results: The 35 participants described 3 interrelated, overarching themes perceived as barriers or facilitators to high-quality patient transfers: resource availability, communication and institutional culture. Common recommendations suggested to improve ICU transfers included implementing standardized communication tools that streamline provider-provider and provider-patient communication, using multimodal communication to facilitate timely, accurate, durable and mutually reinforcing information transfer; and developing procedures to manage delays in transfer to ensure continuity of care for patients in the ICU waiting for a hospital ward bed.Interpretation: Patient and provider perspectives attribute breakdown of ICU-to-ward transfers of care to resource availability, communication and institutional culture. Patients and providers recommend standardized, multimodal communication and transfer procedures to improve quality of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2018
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