Transfer summary
Formal Definition
A structured handoff document providing a comprehensive summary of a patient's medical course for the purpose of inter-facility or intra-facility transfer — typically includes: reason for transfer, transferring facility and physician, receiving facility and physician, active problems with current status, pertinent past medical history, summary of hospitalization, key diagnostic findings and interventions, current medications, allergies, code status, lines/drains/tubes, recent vital signs and labs, pending studies, anticipated needs, family contact information, and insurance/authorization details; functions as both a clinical handoff and an administrative record ensuring continuity of care across care settings.
How It's Used on the Ward
"Transfer summary" or "transfer note" — the comprehensive document sent with a patient moving between facilities or care units; for interhospital transfer (between hospitals), often accompanies the patient's physical transport and may be combined with the discharge summary; for intra-hospital (between units), a focused note capturing key context for the new team.
Example
""TRANSFER SUMMARY Transferring facility: Northside Community Hospital Receiving facility: University Medical Center (cardiac surgery) Receiving physician: Dr. Chen, cardiac surgery Reason for transfer: 62-year-old with severe mitral regurgitation and new acute heart failure, requiring mitral valve repair and consideration of advanced therapies (Impella, ECMO). Pertinent PMH: CAD with prior CABG (x3 grafts, 2018), HFrEF (EF 25%), diabetes, hypertension, CKD stage 3. Course at transferring hospital: Admitted with cardiogenic shock, placed on Impella device 02/14, hemodynamic stabilization achieved. Echocardiogram showed severe mitral regurgitation from leaflet prolapse, mild-mod aortic stenosis.""
Clinical Context
Interhospital transfer summary components: (1) Patient identifiers — name, DOB, MRN. (2) Transferring and receiving institution/physician contact. (3) Reason for transfer and accepting physician confirmation. (4) Pertinent PMH. (5) Hospital course summary — active issues, interventions, response. (6) Current medications and allergies. (7) Lines/drains/tubes status. (8) Recent vital signs, labs, imaging summary. (9) Code status/advance directives. (10) Pending studies. (11) Family/insurance/authorization details. (12) Sending contact person for questions. (13) Time and method of transfer. ICU-to-floor or floor-to-ICU intra-hospital transfer notes: typically shorter, focused on the immediate active problems rather than full hospitalization summary. Combines with verbal handoff (SBAR or I-PASS) for maximum information transfer. Medico-legal documentation: sent at time of physical patient transfer, retained at both sending and receiving facilities. Failure modes: missing code status (causing emergency interventions inconsistent with patient wishes), missing medication list with active drips, missing recent trends that put receiving team at a disadvantage.