A Geographic Investigation of a Critical Care Patient Transfer Network

The movement of critical care patients from areas of low treatment capacity to areas of specialized care has become a common practice, with over half a million critical care patients being transferred between hospitals every year in the USA. Despite the growing number of transfers and networks formed between hospitals, to-date there is a limited amount of evidence guiding this field, especially when it comes to best practices regarding the efficient use of helicopter resources without compromise to patient outcomes. While geography is central to devising a system that minimizes helicopter use and reduces any variation in patient outcomes, the spatial component of critical care transportation has been commonly overlooked within this body of research. In this thesis, a geographical approach is used to analyze a critical care transfer network centered around Maryland. It was found that the use of helicopters varies by hospital as a result of hospitals being located in varying proximity to the receiving facility. Patient outcomes were found to be even throughout the network.M.A