Validation of the Provincial Transfer Authorization Centre database: a comprehensive database containing records of all inter-facility patient transfers in the province of Ontario

A random sample of 100 patient inter-facility transfer records was compared to the corresponding institutional patient records from the sending healthcare facilities. Measures of agreement, including sensitivity, were calculated for the 12 common data variables.Of the 100 randomly selected patient transfer records, 95 (95%) of the corresponding institutional patient records were located. Data variables in the categories patient demographics, facility identification and timing of transfer and reason and urgency of transfer had strong agreement levels. The 10 most commonly used data variables had accuracy rates that ranged from 85.3% to 100% and error rates ranging from 0 to 12.6%. These same variables had sensitivity values ranging from 0.87 to 1.0.The very high level of agreement between institutional patient records and the PTAC data for fields compared in this study supports the validity of the PTAC database. For the first time, a population-based patient transfer database has been established. Although it was created during an emergency situation and data collection is dependent on front-line medical workers, the PTAC data has achieved a high level of validity, perhaps even higher than many purpose built databases created during non-emergency settings.Patient transfers between health care facilities are an essential component of any health care system. Inter-facility patient transfers occur for routine to urgent reasons. For example, transfers are arranged for imaging studies, clinic appointments, or specialized treatment. In the province of Ontario, Canada with its population of twelve million there are approximately half a million inter-facility patient transfers annually.Despite the great volume of patient movement due to inter-facility transfers, these movements were not tracked, monitored or documented in a systematic manner. The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Ontario in 2003 necessitated the surveillance of patient movement activities.