Learn Dutch: Na het overplaatsen van de patiënt was de afdeling erg rustig. - After transferring the patient, the ward was very quiet.

You would need a full subordinate clause with a subject and conjugated verb, usually starting with nadat. For example: Nadat ze de patiënt hadden overgeplaatst, was de afdeling erg rustig. The nominal style (Na het overplaatsen van...) makes it shorter and more formal by turning the action into a noun.

Why do we need the word van before de patiënt here?

In a normal clause, de patiënt would be the direct object (transferring the patient). But because the nominal style turns the verb into a noun (het overplaatsen), it can no longer take a direct object. Instead, you connect them with van, literally translating to 'the transferring of the patient'.

Overplaatsen is a separable verb. Why is it written as one solid word here?

When turning a verb into a noun with het, you always use the full infinitive form. For separable verbs, the full infinitive is always written as a single connected word, like het overplaatsen or het schoonmaken.

Why does the second part of the sentence use inversion (was de afdeling instead of de afdeling was)?