Healthcare System of Transfer
You might be wondering why patients are sometimes transferred from one hospital to another. You might be thinking, “Why can’t they handle everything I need so my loved one or I don’t need to be transferred anywhere?
In Short
Emergency Medical Service (EMS) personnel will transport you to, or hospitals will transfer you to locations where you will get the optimal care you need. Every hospital cannot afford to have specialists in every category of healthcare. For example, your child would be transferred or taken straight to Seattle Children’s Hospital if EMS or the doctor believes it is appropriate for him or her to see a specialist in children’s knee surgery.
More Detail
Local Integrated Health delivery systems or “Coordination of Care” is a concept which has been utilized by Harborview Medical Center (UW Medicine) and Seattle Children’s Hospital for many years. Fire Department personnel around King County have known for many years that accident victims with serious burns and/or head trauma are transported directly or transferred to Harborview. Similarly, children with serious injuries and/or sudden onset sickness symptoms are generally transported directly to or transferred to Seattle Children’s Hospital. Hospitals around the Puget Sound area have followed that protocol for many years . King County Medic One System and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) are well known around the country for its high standards of training and education. This system integrates citizen participation, Enhanced 911, Basic Life Support (BLS), Advanced Life Support (ALS) into the overall EMS system which is a great model of “Coordination of Care”, or Integrated Healthcare delivery system.
Many small hospitals serve as the “entry point” for larger, regional healthcare delivery systems. By the same token, Critical Access hospitals with Swing Beds, serve as an “exit point” for these larger healthcare systems, following surgery when longer term care is needed in a hospital environment.
