Available emergency doctor, please call 1001, rDVM holding, can be heard multiple times daily at busy emergency clinics. Emergency room (ER) clinicians and specialists continuously receive phone calls requesting transfer of patients that require advanced care or hospitalization. In my hospital, a referral center outside of a large metropolitan area, the emergency service caseload increased by 26% to 28% from 2019 to 2021. A large portion of these cases were referrals from primary care clinicians and urgent care hospitals.

With a continuous increase in caseloads and decrease in available staffing, it can be difficult to meet referring clinicians’ needs.

Providing the Most Helpful Information

Time limitations can prevent referring facilities from providing all of the necessary information during a transfer call. Clinicians may also be hesitant due to perceived feelings of judgment from the receiving clinician about the patient’s treatment, but the intention of a transfer call is to gain information, not to cast judgment. These calls typically last <2 minutes and should be dedicated to relaying patient history, patient status, and expectations, as well as information about the client’s emotional state and financial ability.

I asked 25 ER clinicians to share what the most efficient patient transfers should include. Here are their suggestions: