Use of a physiologic scoring system during interhospital transport of pediatric patients.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the incidence of physiologic deterioration in critically ill and injured pediatric patients during interhospital transport with air and ground ambulance


METHODS
Prospective, descriptive study


METHODS
All children were treated in regional hospitals and then transported to a pediatric tertiary care center.


METHODS
Children (n = 100) with a median age of 1.4 years (range 1 week to 18 years)


RESULTS
Three sets of physiologic scores were calculated: at the time of referral, on departure from the referring hospital, and arrival at the tertiary care center. The incidence of significant physiologic deterioration based on the calculated physiologic scores was 5.6% (n = 4) during ground and 3.4% (n = 1) during air ambulance transports. Critical events occurred in 15% of ground and 31% of air ambulance transports.


CONCLUSIONS
No difference existed in the incidence of adverse events or physiologic deterioration when air ambulance transports were compared with ground ambulance transports for critically ill children by our team. The physiologic scoring system we chose is simple and easy to use for quality assurance.
Gunnarsson
B
B
Department of Anesthesia, Children's Hospital of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14222, USA. cheard@acsu.buffalo.edu
Heard
C M
CM
Rotta
A T
AT
Heard
A M
AM
Kourkounis
B H
BH
Fletcher
J E
JE
D000293:Adolescent; D017732:Air Ambulances / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000552:Ambulances / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000145:classification*; D009518:New York; D010360:Patient Transfer; D010829:Physiological Phenomena; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012107:Research Design; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000145:classification*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors