Abstract:

BACKGROUND: In Hong Kong, the reorganization of healthcare frame work for better utilization of resources has led to an increase in the frequency of inter-facility transport in recent years. An Inter-Facility Transport Triage Guideline (IFTTG) was introduced and evaluated on its compliance and performance. This study aimed to evaluate the compliance to the IFTTG and performance of inter-facility transport after the IFTTG was implemented.
METHODS: The patients who required emergency IFT with accompanying personnel in two consecutive periods (pre-implementation period: January 1, 2006 to April 30, 2006; post-implementation period: May 1, 2006 to August 31, 2006) were included. The compliance to pre-transport triage and transport team configuration was evaluated by a review panel with eight performance indicators identified. The performance indicators were compared individually and as an overall score.
RESULTS: Sixty-eight (26 in the pre-implementation period and 42 in the post-implementation period) IFTs were reviewed. There was demonstrable improvement on compliance to the IFTTG. The appropriateness of pre-transport triage increased from 34.6% to 54.8% whereas appropriateness of transport team configuration rose significantly from 73.1% to 92.9% (P<0.05). Staff performance on individual IFT performance indicator was satisfactory in both periods and the means of overall score on performance indicators were 7.12 and 7.29 respectively. The most improved performance indicator was the appropriateness of transport team configuration.
CONCLUSIONS: The compliance and performance with the newly implemented IFTTG were satisfactory. However, staff comment and satisfaction with the use of the new guideline should be collected so as to achieve continuous quality improvement.

Key words: Transportation of patients, Emergency medical services, Pratice guideline, Evaluation studies