Necessity of trauma referrals to the emergency department

Abstract

Background: Patients with traumatic injuries presenting to the emergency department (ED) may be referred to another hospital for further management. Unnecessary referrals can inflate health-care costs and workload, as well as reduce provider and patient satisfaction. Objectives: In this study, we determined the proportion of unnecessary trauma referrals and described the characteristics of this patient population. Methods: A retrospective chart review was carried out between 1 January and 31 December 2016. Data regarding demographics, diagnosis and clinical course at the ED were collected in standardised forms. A referral was defined as unnecessary if the patient was discharged from the ED without a therapeutic procedure performed. Results: There were 121 trauma referrals. The mean age was 39.0±18.3 years old, and 94 (77.7%) patients were male. Seventy-eight (64.5%) of the referrals were from EDs in the same health-care cluster. Overall, 15 (12.3%) referrals were unnecessary, and of these, nine patients had sustained burns or were suffering from smoke inhalation. The length of stay of these unnecessary referrals was 197.0±96.2 minutes. Referring ED outside the health-care cluster was significantly associated with unnecessary referrals (odds ratio=4.42, 95% confidence interval 1.40–13.97, p=0.007). Conclusion: More than 1 in 10 trauma referrals were unnecessary. Further collaborative prospective studies with other EDs are needed to elucidate the underlying reasons for such unnecessary referrals so that targeted solutions can be implemented to reduce them in the future.