Development of a pediatric critical care transport team: experience at a military medical center.

摘要

INTRODUCTION: A pediatric critical care transport program was initiated and organized at Naval Medical Center San Diego in January 1994. The primary goal of the program was to formally train military pediatric residents in the early stabilization and transport of the critically ill neonatal and pediatric patient. It was also felt that such a program would generate significant cost savings to the Department of Defense. We present the statistics, training protocol, and the cost savings. In addition, we surveyed previous residents who had been involved with this program to determine its perceived benefit. METHODS: In the first phase of this project, the pediatric critical care transport program database from January 1994 to December 1997 was reviewed. The number and types of transports were recorded. Next, we determined cost savings for the transport program for fiscal year 1996-1998 (the period for which fiscal data were available). In the second phase of this project, we sent surveys to the 23 graduating residents who had participated in the pediatric critical care transport program. The survey sought to determine the perceived value of the transport training experience and the degree to which that training is now being used. All investigators were blinded to the responses. Statistical analysis consisted of determining the percentage of each response. RESULTS: During the 4-year period reviewed, 404 transports were performed (198 neonatal and 206 pediatric). During fiscal year 1996-1998, there was a cost avoidance of