TY  - JOUR
T1  - COmmunity hospital transfers to a va medical center
AU  - Kerr HD, Byrd JC
Y1  - 1989/07/07
N1  - 10.1001/jama.1989.03430010082035
JO  - JAMA
SP  - 70
EP  - 73
VL  - 262
IS  - 1
N2  - We prospectively studied all transfers from community hospitals to the Zablocki Veterans Administration Medical Center in Milwaukee (Wis) between May 28, 1986, and January 1, 1987. Transfers totaled 4.7% (311/6609) of acute-care admissions during the study period but accounted for 19.1% (39/204) of in-hospital deaths. The mortality rate for transferred patients who required Veterans Administration hospitalization was 12.5% (39/311) compared with 2.6% (165/6298) for all other admissions. At the time of transfer 59 patients (19%) were judged unstable by a modification of the APACHE II classification system, yet only 19 patients were cared for en route by a physician or a nurse. In addition to higher mortality, the transferred patients had a longer median length of stay than nontransferred patients (11 days vs 7 days).(JAMA. 1989;262:70-73)
SN  - 0098-7484
M3  - doi: 10.1001/jama.1989.03430010082035
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1989.03430010082035
ER  -