Course: A Journey Through Transfer Medicine

Transferring patients can be done in many different ways in many different environments, each with their own challenges. Worldwide there are many interesting solutions, which we’ll learn more about as …

Watch this video of a transfer team simulating a chaotic packaging sequence. Consider what areas could have been improved before reading on. We’re sure you have spotted a whole load …

Transfers in austere environments are so challenging they are sometimes even impossible. Here, Dr Zdenek Bares, an intensivist with extreme environment experience, discusses his time in the Antarctic region and …

In this article, Dr Arndt Melzer, anaesthetic consultant and lead of the North Central London Adult Critical Transfer Service (NCL-ACTS) shares his tips for packaging critical care patients for transfer. …

Every transfer poses a risk to the patient and the staff accompanying them. In this video, we explore one way of understanding, identifying and classifying the types of risks that …

In this section on obstetric transfers, Dr Karin Anneliese Fox, associate professor in obstetrics and gynaecology at Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, Texas, USA) and Medical Director of maternal transport …

In this article, we introduce some of the data available on transfer medicine. The COVID-19 pandemic showed just how important critical care transfer teams can be to decompress hospitals and …

So far in the previous clinical cases we’ve seen examples of risks to the patient due to physiological deterioration, equipment failure and inadequate preparation, but we should remember that the …

You have to protect the patient throughout the journey and prevent injuries. The only safe way of fixing a supine adult who is transported in the direction of travel in …

There are a few key points to learn from this video for the performance of a pre-transfer checklist. You may have observed: the team all paused to go through the …

It makes sense to debrief every transfer; without this a mission is not complete. It may be tempting to skip this part of the transfer as the work is done, …

When starting a new shift, the team should come together to check all the equipment. Transfer is a fast-paced environment and teams need to be ready to launch at a …

When transferring patients between critical care units, the decision to transfer is the joint responsibility of the referring and receiving consultants at each unit. Once this decision has been agreed, …

The main aim of the handover is to bring the receiving clinicians up to speed quickly with the critically-ill patient to ensure continuity of care. This is a crucial moment, …

This series of steps on paediatric transfers has been developed by the Children’s Acute Transport Service (CATS), London, including contributions from Cathy Roberts, Dr Linda Chigaru, Dr Gerard Manning and …