Translating Science into Better Patient Care in the ICU

Read more about the project here.

The transfer from the ICU to another hospital ward can result in more adverse events because they go to a unit with less intensive care and less resources. Moving from one unit to another can also result in loss of information about the care received during the ICU. Critically ill older patients are at high risk of experiencing such an error or event. 

The goal of this project was to describe the experiences and communication of stakeholders during patient transfer from ICU to hospital ward to identify opportunities to improve the process and aid in the development of an ICU discharge tool kit. Ten (10) ICUs across Canada participated in the study, collecting information from patients, family members and health care providers.

Tom Stelfox, BMSc, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor of Critical Care Medicine, Medicine and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary, Scientific Director of Alberta Health Services Critical Care Strategic Clinical Network and Deputy Head of the Department of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Calgary. He received his PhD in health care policy from Harvard University and his MD from the University of Alberta, and completed his internal medicine residence at the University of Toronto and a critical care fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital. His research program focuses on the application of health services research methods to evaluate and improve the quality of health care delivery to critically ill patients. His research activities include developing quality indicators in trauma care; developing strategies to improve continuity of patient care across the care continuum; and improving the translation of scientific evidence into clinical practice.