September 30, 2022

We do not know what constitutes a full workup and the word “rapid” is tripping us up. In a lot of our cases, we do a workup, transfer out prior to having a diagnosis, then the receiving facility only observes and discharges. So in our mind, these would be NPTOS. I reminded the team that we cannot use the receiving facilities’ data to sway our decision.

Yes, these are the challenging cases. The idea is to exclude patients for whom your team has ruled out traumatic injury. If your team is transferring and has not ruled out injury, then include them. For example, you may not do imaging on peds patients that transfer out, the receiving facility will do it and you are trying to limit exposure for the kids. If you are sending them thinking there may be injury, they are PTOS for you. The determination at the other hospital may be different, but that is not a factor in your decision.

There is not a specific black and white rule to follow. These types of cases will need to be determined on a case by case basis.

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