A Third of Patients Transferred to Level 1 Trauma Center Didn't Belong There

“Our hope is that our study will contribute to the movement of the national trauma agenda toward further and better trauma system development. We can certainly maintain our commitment to caring for the injured while also working to ensure that the right patient is cared for in the right place at the right time,” he said.

Dr. C. William Schwab of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, the invited discussant, said that the focus of the study was too narrow, because it looked only at patient characteristics as a predictor of transfer and did not consider local hospital resources, provider level and skill complement, or distance from the local hospital to the level 1 center.

The study’s funding source was not disclosed. Dr. Toschlog and Dr. Schwab disclosed no conflicts of interest.