Transfers of LTC residents to hospital EDs: an ethics quality improvement project to minimize non-beneficial and unwanted hospital transfers and maximize system efficiency.

We know that errors related to consent, capacity and substitute decision-making can lead to transfers from long-term care to hospital that seniors do not want and cannot benefit from. Three ethics quality improvement projects were launched to minimize errors in decision-making to work towards providing care residents want and can benefit from. We learned that there is a systemic barrier, namely the level-of-care form that undermines the efforts made by long-term care staff to meet their ethical and legal obligations. Because of the use of these forms, residents can receive treatment that they do not want or could not benefit from, including transfer to hospital.