Quality Indicators for Ground Inter-Hospital Transport of Critically Ill Adults

A study by Qianqian Zhang, published on figshare in April 2026, developed a set of sensitive quality indicators for the land-based inter-hospital transport of adult critically ill patients. The finalized system comprises 3 first-level indicators, 10 second-level indicators, and 22 third-level indicators, established through two rounds of Delphi expert consultation. The dataset is a 69.0 KB document detailing the methodology and results of this indicator development process.

Use Cases

• Developing quality monitoring frameworks for patient transport based on the established structure-process-outcome model.
• Benchmarking transport service performance against the 35 specific indicators mentioned in the study.
• Informing training programs for medical transport teams using the process-oriented indicators.
• Conducting secondary Delphi or validation studies on transport quality metrics.

Strengths

• Indicator system was developed via a rigorous two-round Delphi process with high expert response rates (100% and 95.83%).
• Expert authority coefficients were high (0.950 and 0.974), suggesting strong consensus.
• The final set includes 35 standardized and quantifiable indicators across three Donabedian dimensions.

Limitations

• The dataset is a 69.0 KB document; the underlying transport data used to develop the indicators is not included.
• Column-level documentation for any potential tabular data within the document is absent.
• The geographic and institutional scope of the expert panel is not specified, which may limit generalizability.

Provenance

Source

Qianqian Zhang via figshare.

Collection Method

Developed through literature review, semi-structured interviews, research group discussions, and two rounds of Delphi expert consultation.

Time Range

Study period not specified; document last updated in 2026.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-14 05:39:08.

Geography

Geographic scope of the study and expert panel is not specified.