Pediatric Transport Overview

1. Pediatric Transport Overview Toni Petrillo-Albarano, MD Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

2. Goal and Objectives • Understand goals of Pediatric Transport • Identify make up and skills of a competent team • Recognize factors involved in choosing various modes • Understand rules of governance

3. Background • In the United States, hospital-based neonatal transport programs were first created in the 1960s and 1970s • Similar programs for older infants and children emerged in the 1980s

4. Background • Neonatal-pediatric transport programs part of the continuum of care in a system of emergency medical services for children

5. Background • They provide a safe, therapeutic environment for pediatric patients who must be transferred between health care institutions under urgent or emergent circumstances

6. Diagnostic Categories Of Children Transported

7. Goal • Early direction and initiation of advanced care • Improve safety of the transport and patient outcome.

8. Goal • Treatment and monitoring with the expected expertise and capabilities of the tertiary care center while the patient is still in the referring facility

9. Essential components • Dedicated team proficient at providing neonatal and/or pediatric critical care during transport

10. Essential components • Sufficient volume of critically ill and injured patients to enable team to maintain expertise

11. Essential components • On-line medical control by qualified physicians • Ground and/or air ambulance capabilities • Communications/dispatch capabilities • Prospectively written clinical and operational guidelines

12. Essential components • Quality and performance improvement activities • Administrative resources • Institutional endorsement and financial support.

13. Team Composition • Depends on the patient’s needs • determined in consultation with the team and medical control • Dedicated pool of qualified physicians, nurses, paramedics and/or respiratory therapists

14. Team Composition • A team member’s degree is less important than his or her ability to provide the level of care required • Critical care during transport conditions is significantly different from an ICU or ED

15. Team Composition • Should not be assumed that a health care professional who is competent in the ICU or ED will function equally well in a mobile environment

16. Team Composition • Many dedicated teams include a physician • Little published evidence that this configuration results in improved outcome compared with non-physician teams

17. Team Composition • Qualifications include the following • Educational and experiential background • Clinical and technical competence • Leadership skills • Critical thinking skills • Communication and interpersonal skills • Appreciation of public and community relations

18. Pediatric courses Required PNCCT PALS, APLS Optional PEPP Pediatric BTLS ATLS Neonatal courses Required NRP or NALS Optional S.T.A.B.L.E Team Training

19. Procedures Advanced airway management Specialized Medication Administration (PGE’s, surfactant, vasopressors) Chest decompression Chest tube insertion Hemodynamic monitoring Vascular access ICP monitoring Ventilator management Isolette Team Training

20. Consent • The basic concept is that “informed consent” must be obtained for the purposes of any treatment of a patient

21. Consent • With a minor the law requires that a reasonable effort must be made to contact the parents for consent unless physicians have determined that the delay would endanger the patient

22. How to choose • The decision based on many factors • Patient acuity • Current and available levels care • Number of staff required • Distance to the referring institution • Traffic congestion and weather conditions.

23. Determining mode • Four critical steps necessary for selection of the optimal mode • Evaluation of the current patient status • Evaluation of care the required before and during transport • Urgency of the transport • Logistics of a patient transport (e.g., local resources available for transport, weather considerations, and ground traffic accessibility)

24. Ground Vs Air • Distance to the closest appropriate facility is too great for safe and timely transport by ground ambulance

25. Ground Vs Air • The potential for transport delay that may be associated with the use of ground transport (e.g., traffic and distance) is likely to worsen the patient's clinical condition

26. Ground Vs Air • Beyond 100 miles, a ground may become inefficient, costly to operate, and time consuming • Helicopter is used for up to 150 mile radius • Fixed wing greater than 150

27. Ground Ambulance 70 MPH 100 minutes to Ellijay 2 hours for peds specialty care = 3.7 hours trip time Helicopter 155 MPH 23 minutes to Ellijay 30 Minutes for peds specialty care = 53 min trip time Performance Comparison Ground vs. Air

28. Concern about Safety of Flight

29. HEMS Industry Statistics = 7.5

30. HEMS Industry Growth Number of Personnel in HEMS 1980-2001

31. HEMS Industry Growth Number of HEMS Helicopters 1980-2001

32. Who Chooses? • The mode of transport, as per EMTALA, is officially determined by the referring physician

33. EMTALA • The federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act has been in effect since 1986 to regulate access to medical care and restrict transfers unless they comply with provisions of the law

34. EMTALA • One of the major responsibilities under EMTALA is that the hospital must provide a medical screening examination and stabilizing care to any patient that “comes to the hospital” and requests care

35. EMTALA • Law applies to • Patients on / in hospital premises (including parking areas, streets, alleys and sidewalks) • Within 250 yards of the main hospital buildings • Patients presenting at off-site urgent cares or walk-in clinics • Any patient in a hospital owned and operated ambulance no matter where it is located

36. EMTALA • The critical elements of documentation required by EMTALA are: • Patient consent to transfer • Physician certification of risks and benefits • Hospital acceptance for transfer • Physician order for mode, level of attendant care, and special equipment • Copy of medical records, tests, and radiology films • Physician signature at departure from sending ED

37. EMTALA • Hospitals do not have a “right” to divert, however • A more accurate description would be that diversion is a request by the hospital to EMS to assist in managing an overflow situation or other emergency

38. EMTALA • EMTALA regulations state that if a hospital directs an ambulance (or air medical unit) to divert, the hospital must still care for the patient if the ambulance enters onto hospital property

39. EMTALA • A patient may instruct an ambulance to go to a hospital of their choice, even if that facility is on diversion which could delay care and endanger the patient

40. EMTALA • The point is that the hospital will still be required by EMTALA to treat the patient who arrives, even if they were told to go elsewhere.

41. Liability/Responsibility • Typically, the hospital staff steps back and allows the transport crew complete control of the patient in the mistaken belief that the transport crew has “assumed care.”

42. Liability/Responsibility • They are illusions that fail to properly reflect the overlapping responsibility issues this setting produces

43. Liability/Responsibility • EMTALA specifically places medical control of the patient in the hands of the transferring physician until the moment of departure

44. Liability/Responsibility • At the same time, however, the transport team has a medical responsibility to the patient as well – it is concurrent and it must be coordinated.

45. Liability/Responsibility • Responsibility then diminishes from the referring facility and increases to the receiving facility as the distance changes

46. Liability/Responsibility • The transport team retains medical responsibility until that proper hand-off has occurred, even though the receiving facility shares responsibility

47. Cost • The approximate cost of a medically configured ground ambulance is approximately $150 000 to $350 000, depending on the manufacturer and model selected • The annual maintenance and fuel costs might range from $10 000 to $25 000 per vehicle

48. Cost • Single-engine helicopter A‑Star or Bell 407 averages $2 million. • A light twin‑engine helicopter EC145 and Bell 430, both medium‑sized twin engine helicopters, cost between $4 and $6 million • While a large twin‑engine helicopter about $1-2 million more

49. Cost • Pilot salaries range from $60,000 to $85,000 annually; a staff of four is required to cover 24/7 • Financial concerns include fixed and variable costs • Fixed costs include insurance, taxes, crew costs, overheads, interest, hanger fees and capital equipment • Variable (hourly) costs vary directly with the number of hours flown. These costs include fuel and oil, scheduled maintenance labor, etc

50. Cost • The aviation‑related expenses alone for a leased medical helicopter operating expense typically starts at more than $1 million for a single‑engine helicopter and increases to almost $2 million for a large twin‑engine helicopter