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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic significantly exacerbated pre-existing emergency department (ED) congestion in Australian hospitals, accompanied by significant ambulance offload delays occurring in every state. We need a national focus on getting people out of hospital when they do not require this level of care, thereby reducing ED congestion.

Delayed transfers of care (DTOCs) are one reason for these unnecessary days in hospital. More commonly referred to as “delayed discharges” in Australia, DTOCs are not a new problem but have been rarely analysed at a system level. This means we do not currently have the whole picture of what is causing DTOCs. If Australia is to deal with this problem, we need a whole‐of‐system approach.

This MJA medical education shares more. 

Learning Outcomes

1. Explain key components of the perspective
2. List main findings
3. Review systems protocol to minimise delayed transfers of care in a hospital setting.

Details

Author: Benedict Rogers, Juan Paolo Legaspi and Tarun Bastiampillai

Article Type: Perspective