A Descriptive Study to Assess Factors influencing Intra-hospital Transfer of Critically Ill Patients in Selected Hospital in the City

The study was aimed at assessing the factors influencing intrahospital transfer of critically ill. Methods: Exploratory descriptive research design was used in the study. 70 intrahospital transport events were included in the study with non probability convenience sampling at critical care unit of tertiary care hospital. Data related to factors influencing intrahospital transfer of critically ill patient was collected with checklist critically ill patients visiting for their hemodialysis. Results: Assessment of factors influencing intrahospital transfer of critically ill patients which include patient related factors, staff related factors and environment related factors revealed that in Patient related factors, majority 44(62.9%) cases had adequate ventilation, whereas 26(37.1%) cases had inadequate ventilation. In staff related factors, 40(57.1%) of cases were highly efficient whereas 30 (42.9%) are poorly efficient. In environment related factors, transport was effective in 38(54.3%) cases whereas it was ineffective in 32(45.7%) cases. Conclusion: Transporting critically ill patients requires the assessment of the different patient, staff and environment related factors which can have deleterious effect on patient. Despite improvement in the intrahospital transport practices, significant risks are still involved in such procedure.