Sociodemographic determinants in the hospitalization decision: evaluation of an emergency department interhospital transfer policy.

STUDY OBJECTIVES

To evaluate an emergency department's "treat and transfer" policy during a two-month period of reduced inpatient capacity by determining the number and characteristics of transferred patients not admitted as planned to the receiving hospital.

DESIGN

Matched case-control analysis.

SETTING

Public hospital adult ED.

TYPE OF PARTICIPANTS

Patients transferred to other hospitals for admission.

INTERVENTIONS

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Twelve percent of patients (16 of 135) were not admitted after transfer during the first month, and 8% during the two-month period. Only IV drug use was found to be significantly associated with an increased risk of discharge without admission (odds ratio = 9.5; 95% confidence interval, 1.9 to 47.8).

CONCLUSION

Patients transferred from the public hospital ED resulted in admission to the receiving hospital in 92% of transfers. A history of IV drug use was the only characteristic found to be associated with discharge without admission to the accepting hospital.