Pediatric Transport Medicine

In this episode, I'll be talking with Dr. Matt Harris from Cohen Children's Hospital about medical transport of kids, both in the prehospital and interfacility settings. We will discuss level of skills, training, and equipment available with various teams, factors to consider when choosing transport options, safety and legal concerns, and transport cost.

After recording this episode, Dr. Harris and I were discussing the components of the safety checklist his institution uses for transport of kids with behavioral health emergencies. His team does a huddle prior to transfer and answers these questions:

1. Who participates in huddle (referring doc, EMS clinicians, occasionally tele-psych physician).
2. Was a complete report given?
3. Was the patient aware of the intent to transfer (transparency with patients reduces discord)
4. Type of transfer (voluntary, involuntary, etc)
5. Any concerns from the sending physician?
6. Does the patient appear compliant and willing to transfer?
7. Is crew comfortable transporting the patient as presented?