Menurut The Emergency Care Improvement Programme (ECIP) di England,  stranded patients ditakrifkan sebagai “patients with a length of stay of seven days or more.” Huraian lanjut pula;  

“A stranded patient review is a snapshot audit of a health setting (for example, an acute trust or whole health system) on a single day, to find out what patients are waiting for and how many could be treated in a different setting. It identifies what the clinical plan is for each stranded patient, and what the next steps will be on the day of review.

A stranded patient review, even if done only once, will provide useful information about your ward, trust or system. Reviews highlight opportunities to care for patients in a different, potentially safer, way by overcoming key delays and identifying patient groups currently stuck in your system who could be cared for at home. Patient stories can convince everyone in the system that it’s important to overcome delays in discharge, and act as a catalyst for bigger improvements. These reviews are likely to dispel myths in your system about why patients are waiting.”

Berdasarkan huraian di atas, perkataan “pesakit terkandas” sebagai padanan bahasa Melayu untuk stranded patient boleh diterima berpandukan maksud kiasan perkataan “terkandas”, iaitu tersekat atau terbantut di tengah jalan. (Sila rujuk Kamus Dewan Edisi Keempat).