Epidemiology of Pediatric Critical Care Transport in Northern Alberta and the Western Arctic

Pediatric Critical Care Referrals for Tertiary Inpatient and Transport Services in Canada's Maritime Provinces: A Retrospective Cohort Study

OBJECTIVE

Accurate triage of children referred for tertiary pediatric critical care services is crucial to ensure optimal disposition and resource conservation. We aimed to explore the characteristics and level of care needs of children referred to tertiary pediatric critical care inpatient and transport services and the characteristics of referring physicians and hospitals to which these children present.

METHODS

We conducted a 1-year retrospective cohort study of children (< 16 years) with documented referral to pediatric critical care and specialized transport services at a tertiary pediatric hospital from regional (24/7 pediatrician on-call coverage) and community (no pediatric specialty services) hospitals in Canada's Maritime provinces.

RESULTS

We identified 205 documented referrals resulting in 183 (89%) transfers; 97 (53%) were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Of 150 children transferred from centers with 24/7 pediatric specialist coverage, 45 (30%) were admitted to the tertiary hospital pediatric medical unit with no subsequent admission to the PICU. Of 20 children transferred from community hospitals and admitted to the tertiary hospital general pediatric medical unit, 9 (45%) bypassed proximate regional hospitals with specialist pediatric care capacity. The specialized pediatric critical care transport team performed 151 (83%) of 183 interfacility transfers; 83 (55%) were admitted to the PICU.

CONCLUSION

One third of the children accepted for interfacility transfer after pediatric critical care referral were triaged to a similar level of care as could be provided at the sending or nearest regional hospital. Improved utilization of pediatric expertise in regional hospitals may reduce unnecessary pediatric transports and conserve valuable health care resources.

Direct vs. redirected admission of critically ill children to PICU after interfacility transfer: a retrospective cohort study

Background

Critically ill children must often be transported long distances for access to critical care resources in Canada. This study aims to describe and compare characteristics and outcomes in patients presenting in the community and requiring inter-facility transport and admission to a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

Methods

This is a retrospective cohort study of children admitted to the ICU at the Hospital for Sick Children from 2016 to 2019 after inter-facility transport. Characteristics and outcomes were compared between children admitted to the PICU within 24 h from their initial critical care transport request, and children admitted after initial redirection to a non-ICU care setting, 24-72 h from request. The primary outcome was severity of illness at PICU admission. Secondary outcomes included duration of mechanical ventilation, organ dysfunction, PICU length of stay and mortality.

Results

A total of 2,730 patients were admitted after inter-facility transport to either the medical/surgical or cardiac ICU within 72 h of initial critical care transport request. Of these children, 2,559 (94%) were admitted within 24 h and 171 (6%) were admitted between 24 and 72 h. Children admitted after initial redirection were younger and residing in more rural centers. Children who were initially redirected had lower severity of illness (PRISM-IV median score 3 vs. 5, p = 0.047) and lower risk of mortality.

Interpretation

Initial redirection to a non-ICU care setting rather than directly admitting to the PICU did not result in increased severity of illness or mortality. This study highlights the need to better understand which factors influence disposition decision-making at the time of initial transport request. Further research should focus on the impact of transport factors on clinical outcomes after PICU admission.

Pediatric Extracorporeal Life Support Transport in Western Canada: Experience over 14 years

This retrospective cohort study describes all children transported on extracorporeal life support (ECLS) by the Stollery Children's Hospital Pediatric Transport team (SCH-PTT) between 2004 and 2018. We compared outcomes and complications between primary (SCH-PTT performed ECLS cannulation) vs. secondary (cannulation performed by referring facility) transports, as well as secondary transports from referring centers with and without an established ECLS cannulation program. SCH-PTT performed 68 ECLS transports during the study period. Median (IQR) transport distance was 298 (298-1,068) kilometers. Mean (SD) times from referral call to ECLS-initiation were: primary transports 7.8 (2.9) vs. 2.5(3.5) hours for secondary transports, p value < 0.001. Complications were common (n = 65, 95%) but solved without leading to adverse outcomes. There were no significant differences in the number of complications between primary and secondary transports. There was no significant difference in survival to ECLS decannulation between primary 9 (90%) and secondary transports 43 (74%), p value = 0.275. ECLS survival was higher for children cannulated by the SCH-PTT or a center with an ECLS cannulation program: 42 (82%) vs. 10 (59%), p value = 0.048. Critically ill children on ECLS can be safely transported by a specialized pediatric ECLS transport team. Secondary transports from a center with an ECLS cannulation program are also safe and have similar results as primary transports.

A Descriptive Analysis of Pediatric Transports Throughout the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command

Background

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) has over 375,000 military personnel, civilian employees, and their dependents. Routine pediatric care is available in theater, but pediatric subspecialty, surgical, and intensive care often require patient movement. Transfer is frequently performed by military air evacuation teams and intermittently augmented by civilian services. Pediatric care requires special training and equipment, yet most transports are staffed by non-pediatric specialists. We seek to describe the epidemiology of pediatric transport missions in INDOPACOM.

Methods

A retrospective review of all patients less than 18 years old transported within INDOPACOM and logged into the Transportation Command Regulating and Command and Control Evacuation System (TRAC2ES) database from June 2008 through June 2018 was conducted. Data are reported using descriptive statistics. Patients were categorized into four age groups: neonatal (<31 days), infant (31-364 days), young children (1 to <8 years), and older children (8-17 years).

Results

During the study period, 687 out of 4,217 (16.3%) transports were children. Median age was 4 years (interquartile range 6 months to 8 years) and 654 patients (95.2%) were transported via military fixed-wing aircraft. There were 219 (31.9%) neonates, 162 (23.6%) infants, 133 (19.4%) young children, and 173 (25.2%) older children. Most common diagnoses encountered were respiratory, cardiac, or abdominal, although older children had a higher percentage of psychiatric diagnoses (28%). Mechanical ventilation was used in 118 (17.2%) patients, and 75 (63.6%) of these patients were neonates.

Conclusions

Within TRAC2ES, nearly one in six encounters were patients aged <18 years, with neonates or infants representing nearly one of three pediatric encounters. Slightly more than one in six pediatric patients required intubation for transport. The data suggest the need for appropriately trained transport teams and equipment be provided to support these missions.

Hospital outcomes of children admitted to intensive care in British Columbia via interfacility transfer versus direct admission from 2015 to 2017: a descriptive analysis

BACKGROUND

Pediatric intensive care relies on having experienced and effective transport systems to transfer critically ill children to the appropriate centre for care. Our aim was to compare hospital outcomes among children admitted directly to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) with those of children transferred from another facility.

METHODS

We conducted a descriptive study using electronic medical records and the PICU database from the BC Children's Hospital. Patients admitted to the PICU from January 2015 to December 2017 were included. We excluded patients who were admitted electively, were admitted for recovery postoperatively, or had inconsistent or out-of-range addresses. We compared hospital mortality rates, use of mechanical ventilation within 24 hours of admission and length of PICU stay between children admitted directly from the BC Children's Hospital emergency department and those transferred from a referring institution.

RESULTS

During the study period, there were 870 unique admissions comprising 386 direct admissions and 484 transferred patients. Transported patients were younger, were more critically ill on presentation and required longer stays. The proportions of children who died and of children who required mechanical ventilation within 24 hours of admission were higher in the transported group than in the group admitted directly from the emergency department (8.3% v. 3.9%, p = 0.008, and 75.8% v. 58.0%, p < 0.001, respectively).

INTERPRETATION

Mortality rate and use of intensive care resources were higher among children who were transported. Further research is needed to examine the key factors driving the differences in outcomes, including the severity of illness on first presentation, transport team composition, and transport distance and duration.

Remote triage in paediatric critical care: A Canadian provincial-wide cohort study

Objective

To describe remote triage of 'potentially' critically ill or injured children in a western Canadian province and to examine the associated factors with 'missings' in vital sign items recorded in centralized telephone triage consultations.

Methods

This is a provincial-wide prospective cohort study. We included all children under 17 years of age consulted through the central transport coordination centres in Alberta from June 2016 to July 2017. We labeled a value as 'missing' when the actual value was not identified in the audio records.

Results

In total, 429 cases were included in this study. The median duration of triage calls was 6.8 minutes. Although the patients' demographics and primary diagnoses were similar, backgrounds of the referring physicians and hospitals were significantly different between the two cohorts (i.e., patients referred to Calgary versus Edmonton). The proportion of 'missings' among the vital sign items varied significantly, in which capillary refilling time (60%), pupils (86%), Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) (79%), and level of respiratory effort (50%) were not well recorded, whereas heart rate (proportion of 'missings': 12%), SpO₂ (20%), and respiratory rate (26%) were recorded reasonably well. The lower proportion of 'missings' was observed in older aged patients for several vital sign items including systolic blood pressure and GCS.

Conclusions

The proportion of missing vital signs recorded varied significantly. The 'missings' could be associated with referring physician's background and patients' demographics such as 'age' that should be considered for the improvement of triage quality in the future.

Effects of Medical Transport on Outcomes in Children Requiring Intensive Care

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

The need to centralize patients for specialty care in the setting of regionalization may delay access to specialist services and compromise outcomes, particularly in a large geographic area. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of interhospital transferring of children requiring intensive care in a Canadian regionalization model.

METHODS

A retrospective cohort design with a matched pair analysis was adopted to compare the outcomes in children younger than 17 years admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of a Canadian children's hospital by a specialized transport team (pediatric critical care transported [PCCT] group) and those children admitted directly to PICU from its pediatric emergency department (PED group). The outcomes of interest included mortality 72 hours from initial contact with the critical care team (ie, either PICU transport team or intrahospital PICU team).

RESULTS

In total, 680 (27%) transports met our inclusion criteria, whereas 866 (7%) cases of 11 570 total PICU admissions were admitted directly from the emergency department. A total of 493 pairs were formed for the matched analyses. Odds of mortality within 72 hours in the PCCT group were significantly higher than in the PED group (odds ratio [OR]: 2.18, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.07-4.45; P = .032). When excluding cases who had at least one episode of cardiac arrest before involvement of the pediatric critical care (PCC) transport team, the OR dropped to 1.66 (95% CI: 0.77-3.46).

CONCLUSIONS

Children transported from nonpediatric hospitals had a higher 72-hour mortality when compared to those children admitted directly to a children's hospital PICU from its own PED in a Canadian regionalized health-care model.