Social network analysis of nationwide interhospital emergency department transfers in Taiwan.
Sci Rep
; 13(1): 2311, 2023 02 09.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36759680
Transferring patients between emergency departments (EDs) is a complex but important issue in emergency care regionalization. Social network analysis (SNA) is well-suited to characterize the ED transfer pattern. We aimed to unravel the underlying transfer network structure and to identify key network metrics for monitoring network functions. This was a retrospective cohort study using the National Electronic Referral System (NERS) database in Taiwan. All interhospital ED transfers from 2014 to 2016 were included and transfer characteristics were retrieved. Descriptive statistics and social network analysis were used to analyze the data. There were a total of 218,760 ED transfers during the 3-year study period. In the network analysis, there were a total of 199 EDs with 9516 transfer ties between EDs. The network demonstrated a multiple hub-and-spoke, regionalized pattern, with low global density (0.24), moderate centralization (0.57), and moderately high clustering of EDs (0.63). At the ED level, most transfers were one-way, with low reciprocity (0.21). Sending hospitals had a median of 5 transfer-out partners [interquartile range (IQR) 3-7), while receiving hospitals a median of 2 (IQR 1-6) transfer-in partners. A total of 16 receiving hospitals, all of which were designated base or co-base hospitals, had 15 or more transfer-in partners. Social network analysis of transfer patterns between hospitals confirmed that the network structure largely aligned with the planned regionalized transfer network in Taiwan. Understanding the network metrics helps track the structure and process aspects of regionalized care.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Contexto em Saúde:
11_ODS3_cobertura_universal
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Transferência de Pacientes
/
Análise de Rede Social
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Aspecto:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
Limite:
Humans
País/Região como assunto:
Asia
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Sci Rep
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article