Tertiary referral hospital

A tertiary hospital, tertiary referral center or tertiary care center is a term without a formal definition which in the United States generally refers to:

• a major hospital that usually has a full complement of services including pediatrics, general medicine, various branches of surgery and psychiatry or
• a specialty hospital dedicated to specific sub-specialty care (pediatric centers, Oncology centers, psychiatric hospitals). Patients will often be referred from smaller hospitals to a tertiary hospital for major operations, consultations with sub-specialists and when sophisticated intensive care facilities are required.

In both the United Kingdom and the United States, a tertiary referral hospital can also mean any hospital that provides tertiary care.

Some examples of tertiary referral center care are:

• Head and neck oncology
• Perinatology (high-risk pregnancies)
• Neonatology (high-risk newborn care)
• PET scans
• Organ transplantation
• Trauma surgery
• High-dose chemotherapy for cancer cases
• Growth and puberty disorders
• Neurology and neurosurgery
• In the UK, cases of poisoning.