A tertiary referral hospital (also called a tertiary hospital, tertiary referral center, tertiary care center, or tertiary center) is a hospital that provides tertiary care,[1] which is a level of health care obtained from specialists in a large hospital after referral from the providers of primary care and secondary care.[2] Beyond that general definition, there is no precise narrower or more formal definition, but tertiary centers usually include the following:
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.
Some examples of tertiary referral center care are:
