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Are Race, Age, Gender, and Insurance Status Determinants in Interhospital Helicopter Transport Time and Frequency?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Brendan R. Furlong ,
Michael B. Heller  and
Thomas E. Auble
Brendan R. Furlong*
Affiliation:
Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, N.C.
Michael B. Heller
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicineand the Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania.
Thomas E. Auble
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicineand the Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania.
*
3910-L Kingsgate Place, Charlotte, NC 28211USA
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Abstract

Objective:

To examine the effects of age, race, gender, and insurance status on utilization and times-to-transport (TTT) for interhospital air medical transfers from rural hospitals to tertiary care centers.

Design:

A retrospective review of interhospital transport records. The TTT was examined as a function of age, gender, race, and insurance status using the Student's t-test for unpaired samples. The Exact Binomial Test (alpha error at 0.05) was used to compare the observed versus expected transport rates for non-whites.

Setting/Participants:

A total of 268 patient transfers from hospitals within a two-county region in central Pennsylvania to tertiary care centers was analyzed. All records with sufficient demographic, TTT, or insurance data were included. Absence of data was the only exclusion.

Results:

The TTT (mean ± SD) was longer (2666 ± 3940 minutes (min.) versus 619 ± 909 min., respectively) for adult than pediatric patients (p <O1), and (2588 ± 4041 min. versus 640 ± 1301 min., respectively) for insured versus uninsured patients (p <.O1). The observed proportion of non-whites transported was less than expected (.41% versus 2.1 %) based on the proportion of non-whites in the region (p <.O5).

Conclusion:

The TTT was longer for adults than for children and for the insured than the uninsured. Non-whites were transported less frequently than predicted.

Keywords

ageair medicaldemographicsgenderhelicopterinsurance statuspatient transportpediatricsracetimes-to-transportutilization
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , December 1993 , pp. 311 - 315
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 1993

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