Transferring patients can be stressful and confusing for patients and their families. In addition, risks to the patient increase during transfers. Thus, many healthcare facilities are trying to reduce patient transfers by providing more flexible patient rooms.
This study sought to: (a) document the processes, labor, time, and costs of transferring patients between nursing units in the hospital; (b) calculate a process efficiency factor for the transport event; and (c) calculate an inefficiency factor for the hospital system relative to the transfers.
The researchers observed patient transports at a 750-bed, tertiary-level care facility over a 5-month period. They tracked duration of each task (pretransfer, transfer, and posttransfer) to create a general timeline of tasks and events.
The researchers found that transport efficiency was 12.4%, and thus inefficiency was 87.6%. Further, their findings indicate that actual transfer labor represents a small portion of the overall time and cost required in the 200 random transports they studied. They posit that the inefficiency of patient transports is a symptom of a larger issue: namely that hospitals need to be designed to limit patient movement to reduce workload, improve efficiency, improve patient safety, create a more patient-centered environment, and improve caregiver satisfaction.
This study was conducted at a single location, thus, generalizability is limited.