Mr Brandon Allwood1,2, Associate Professor Clinton Gibbs2
1Aspen Medical Retrieval Services, 2Retrieval Services Queensland
Biography:
Brandon Allwood is an aeromedical nurse practitioner candidate with Aspen Medical – Retrieval Services based out of Brisbane. Brandon has previously worked towards a Master of Philosophy, Master of Emergency Nursing and Bachelor of Nursing Science. Brandon has an interest in the provision of timely and effective analgesic medication and hospital flow. Since moving into the aeromedical field, the focus of Emergency Department Length of Stay and Analgesic Medication has transitioned to finding the most effective way to provide analgesic medications for patients within the context of the aeromedical sector and optimising the transport of aeromedical transferred patients.
Abstract:
Interhospital transfers are conducted daily throughout Queensland, relocating patients from one hospital to another for either an escalation or downgrade of the level of care being provided. The patient being transferred is regularly moved from a bed in a hospital ward to an Emergency Department area, waiting for a collection of factors before being transitioned to the new ward location. Current process changes no longer mandate a hospital ward bed being available prior to the transfer of the patient. Despite Queensland health protocol, which states that patients being transferred are to be “transported directly to an available inpatient bed,” this project aims to explore the outcomes of patients undergoing aeromedical interhospital transfer and document, for the first time in Australia to this scale (four years of data), the proportion of patients who do not reasonably go direct to an inpatient bed and the length of their boarding time. This will be achieved by answering the following objectives:
1. What is the incidence of a) discharge from the Emergency Department, b) admission to Short Stay, c) admission to hospital, and d) transfer to another hospital, following aeromedical interhospital transfer in Queensland?
2. What is the incidence of aeromedical interhospital transfers boarding within the Emergency Department?
3. How long do patients board in the Emergency Department, after aeromedical interhospital transfer?
This research will guide the optimisation of flow to not only interhospital transferred patients but also all hospital attendances within Queensland. This will be conducted through other research processes, such as observational studies reviewing the implications of interhospital transfers on the greater hospital attendees and interventional trials for new strategies to improve the flow of interhospital transferred patients.
The project is currently in the data collection stage, with expected analysis of results to commence and be ready for presentation in August 2025.