Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
Patient transfers: medical practice as social triage. |
| Authors: |
Himmelstein DU (AUTHOR), Woolhandler S (AUTHOR), Harnly M (AUTHOR), Bader MB (AUTHOR), Silber R (AUTHOR), Backer HD (AUTHOR), Jones AA (AUTHOR) |
| Source: |
American Journal of Public Health. May84, Vol. 74 Issue 5, p494-497. 4p. |
| Subjects: |
Hospital emergency services, Public hospitals, Medical quality control, Patients, Medical records |
| Abstract: |
We studied 458 consecutive patient transfers from 14 private hospitals to a public hospital emergency room during a six-month period. The transferred patients were predominantly male, young, and uninsured, and included large numbers of minority group members. We established criteria to identify patients at high risk for adverse effects of transfer and reviewed the clinical records of the 103 patients meeting these criteria. We judged that transfer resulted in substandard care for 33 of these patients, either because they were at risk for life-threatening complications in transmit or because urgently needed diagnosis or therapy was delayed. In the community studied, transfer is a common and potentially dangerous medical intervention which appears to reinforce racial and class inequalities of access to medical care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: |
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
