Clinical
Quality Control Work Group Focusing on Practical Guidelines for Improving Safety of Critically Ill Patient Transportation in the Emergency Department

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Materials and Methods

A quality control work group was composed of emergency physicians and nurses with 3 years of experience in quality improvement in the emergency department. The quality target focused on the intrahospital transport program from the emergency department. The work group had 11 participants, including 8 nurses, 2 physicians, and one computer engineer. The basic data before implementation of the guidelines for intrahospital transport of critically ill patients were collected in April 2006 and data

Tailored Guidelines

According to guidelines for critically ill patient transport from our literature research1, 7, 15 and expert collaborative consultation from emergency physicians, nurses, and ICU physicians and nurses, tailored guidelines for critically ill patient transport from the emergency department were established, as in Table 2. The guidelines were introduced to emergency staff by an education program.

Safety Indicators Before and After Team Group Training

Data were compared from a routine audit of critically ill patient transport according to transport

Critically Ill Patient Transportation from the Emergency Department

At times critically ill patients have to leave the emergency department and be transported to the radiology department, the operating room, ICUs, or other departments within the hospital. The transport of critically ill patients creates the potential for mishaps and adverse events because of the need to disconnect individuals from important equipment. Many articles have been published that include guidelines or reviews on intrahospital transportation of critically ill patients in intensive

Yu-Nu Chang is Head Nurse, Department of Nursing, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.

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Yu-Nu Chang is Head Nurse, Department of Nursing, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.

Li-Hua Lin is Senior Technician, Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety Committee, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.

Wei-Hui Chen is Registered Nurse, Department of Nursing, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.

Hsiu-Yi Liao is Registered Nurse, Department of Nursing, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.

Pei-Hsin Hu is Registered Nurse, Department of Nursing, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.

Shu-Fen Chen is Registered Nurse, Department of Nursing, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.

Shu-Hui Fu is Registered Nurse, Department of Nursing, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.

Jung Chang is Supervisor, Department of Nursing, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.

Yen-Chun Peng is Emergency Physician, Division of Gastroenterology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; Emergency Physician, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; and Emergency Physician, Chung-Sam Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.

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