Interhospital transport of the extremely ill patient: the mobile intensive care unit

Effect of the Implementation of the French Hospital Regionalization Policy on Patient Mobility

A new law was voted in France in 2016 to increase cooperation between public sector hospitals. Hospitals were encouraged to work under the leadership of local referral centers and to share their support functions (e.g., information systems) with newly created hospital groups, called "Regional Hospital Groups." The law made it compulsory for each public sector hospital to become affiliated with one of 136 newly created hospital groups. The policy's aim was to ensure that all patients were sent to the hospital best qualified to treat their unique condition, among the hospitals available at the regional level. Therefore, we aimed to assess whether this regionalization policy was associated with changes in observed patterns of patient mobility between hospitals. This nationwide observational study followed an interrupted time series design. For each stay occurring from 2014 to 2019, we ascertained whether or not the stay was followed by mobility toward another hospital within 90 days, and whether or not the receiving hospital was part of the same Regional Hospital Group as the sender hospital. The proportion of mobility directed toward the same regional hospital group increased from 22.9% in 2014 (95% CI 22.7-23.1) to 24.6% in 2019 (95% CI 24.4-24.8). However, the absence of discontinuity during the policy change year was consistent with the hypothesis of a preexisting trend toward regionalization. Therefore, the policy did not achieve major changes in patterns of mobility between hospitals. Other objectives of the reform, including long-term consequences on the healthcare offer, remain to be assessed.

Establishment of a simplified score for predicting risk during intrahospital transport of critical patients: A prospective cohort study

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To establish a simple score that enables nurses to quickly, conveniently and accurately identify patients whose condition may change during intrahospital transport.

BACKGROUND

Critically ill patients may experience various complications during intrahospital transport; therefore, it is important to predict their risk before they leave the emergency department. The existing scoring systems were not developed for this population.

DESIGN

A prospective cohort study.

METHODS

This study used convenience sampling and continuous enrolment from 1 January, 2019, to 30 June, 2021, and 584 critically ill patients were included. The collected data included vital signs and any condition change during transfer. The STROBE checklist was used.

RESULTS

The median age of the modelling group was 74 (62, 83) years; 93 (19.7%) patients were included in the changed group, and 379 (80.3%) were included in the stable group. The five independent model variables (respiration, pulse, oxygen saturation, systolic pressure and consciousness) were statistically significant (p < .05). The above model was simplified based on beta coefficient values, and each variable was assigned 1 point, for a total score of 0-5 points. The AUC of the simplified score in the modelling group was 0.724 (95% CI: 0.682-0.764); the AUC of the simplified score in the validation group (112 patients) was 0.657 (95% CI: 0.566-0.741).

CONCLUSIONS

This study preliminarily established a simplified scoring system for the prediction of risk during intrahospital transport from the emergency department to the intensive care unit. It provides emergency nursing staff with a simple assessment tool to quickly, conveniently and accurately identify a patient's transport risk.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

This study suggested the importance of strengthening the evaluation of the status of critical patients before intrahospital transport, and a simple score was formed to guide emergency department nurses in evaluating patients.

Air Versus Ground Transport Times in an Urban Center

PURPOSE

Given that the benefits of helicopter transport vary with geography and healthcare systems, we assessed transport times for rotor wing versus ground transport over a 10 year period in an urban setting.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

All completed transports from 153 sending hospitals in New England from 2009 through 2018 to 8 local tertiary care centers were extracted from an administrative database. The primary outcome of interest was patient-loaded transport time for rotor wing versus ground transports. Overall, 25,483 patient transports met the inclusion criteria and were included in this study. We assessed patient-loaded transport time for all transports, and determined mean time to arrive at the scene, scene to patient time, the bedside time, and distance at which the patient-loaded transport time was faster for rotor wing than for ground transport. We also performed subgroup analyses, evaluating transport times by time of day, day of the week, and destination.

RESULTS

The most common indication for transport was adult trauma, (n = 6,008, 23.6%) followed by adult cardiac (n = 4359, 17.1%), adult neuro (3729 14.6%), and adult medical (n = 3691, 14.5%). The median miles traveled for all transports was 26.0, IQR 14-38, ranging from 1 to 264 miles. The median patient-loaded transport time was 27 min (IQR 15-40) for all transports. Nearly all time intervals were shorter for rotor wing versus ground transports, and patient-loaded transport time was significantly shorter at 15 minutes compared to 38 minutes (IQR 12-22 vs 28-33, p < 0.001). There was no distance at which the patient-loaded transport time was faster for ground transport than for rotor wing.

CONCLUSIONS

In over 25,000 transports over 10 years, in a compact metropolitan area with relatively short transport distances and times, the use of the helicopter was associated with substantial time savings.

Linear regression model and least square method for experimental identification of AMBU bag in simple ventilator

Purpose

In the COVID-19 outbreak periods, people's life has been deranged, leading to disrupt the world. Firstly, the number of deaths is growing and has the potential to surpass the highest level at any time. Secondly, the pandemic broke many countries' fortified lines of epidemic prevention and gave people a more honest view of its seriousness. Finally, the pandemic has an impact on life, and the economy led to a shortage in medical, including a lack of clinicians, facilities and medical equipment. One of those, a simple ventilator is a necessary piece of medical equipment since it might be useful for a COVID-19 patient's treatment. In some cases, the COVID-19 patients require to be treated by modern ventilators to reduce lung damage. Therefore, the addition of simple ventilators is a necessity to relieve high work pressure on medical bureaucracies. Some low-income countries aim to build a simple ventilator for primary care and palliative care using locally accessible and low-cost components. One of the simple principles for producing airflow is to squeeze an artificial manual breathing unit (AMBU) iterative with grippers, which imitates the motion of human fingers. Unfortunately, the squeezing angle of grippers is not proportional to the exhaust air volume from the AMBU bag. This paper aims to model the AMBU bag by a mathematical equation that enables to implement on a simple controller to operate a bag-valve-mask (BVM) ventilator with high accuracy performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper provides a curvature function to estimate the air volume exhausting from the AMBU bag. Since the determination of the curvature function is sophisticated, the coefficients of the curvature function are approximated by a quadratic function through the experimental identification method. To obtain the high accuracy performance, a linear regression model and a least square method are employed to investigate the characteristic of the BVM ventilator's grippers angle with respect to the airflow volume produced by the AMBU bag.

Findings

This paper investigates the correlation between the exhausting airflow of the AMBU bag and the grippers angle of the BVM ventilator.

Originality/value

The experimental results validated that the regression model of the characteristic of the exhausting airflow of the AMBU bag with respect to the grippers' angle has been fitted with a coefficient over 98% within the range of 350–750 ml.

Respiratory and circulatory insufficiency during emergent long-distance critical care interhospital transports to tertiary care in a sparsely populated region: a retrospective analysis of late mortality risk

OBJECTIVES

To test if impaired oxygenation or major haemodynamic instability at the time of emergency intensive care transport, from a smaller admitting hospital to a tertiary care centre, are predictors of long-term mortality.

DESIGN

Retrospective observational study. Impaired oxygenation was defined as oxyhaemoglobin %-inspired oxygen fraction ratio (S/F ratio)<100. Major haemodynamic instability was defined as a need for treatment with norepinephrine infusion to sustain mean arterial pressure (MAP) at or above 60 mm Hg or having a mean MAP <60. Logistic regression was used to assess mortality risk with impaired oxygenation or major haemodynamic instability.

SETTING

Sparsely populated Northern Sweden. A fixed-wing interhospital air ambulance system for critical care serving 900 000 inhabitants.

PARTICIPANTS

Intensive care cases transported in fixed-wing air ambulance from outlying hospitals to a regional tertiary care centre during 2000-2016 for adults (16 years old or older). 2142 cases were included.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES

All-cause mortality at 3 months after transport was the primary outcome, and secondary outcomes were all-cause mortality at 1 and 7 days, 1, 6 and 12 months.

RESULTS

S/F ratio <100 was associated with increased mortality risk compared with S/F>300 at all time-points, with adjusted OR 6.3 (2.5 to 15.5, p<0.001) at 3 months. Major haemodynamic instability during intensive care unit (ICU) transport was associated with increased adjusted OR of all-cause mortality at 3 months with OR 2.5 (1.8 to 3.5, p<0.001).

CONCLUSION

Major impairment of oxygenation and/or major haemodynamic instability at the time of ICU transport to get to urgent tertiary intervention is strongly associated with increased mortality risk at 3 months in this cohort. These findings support the conclusion that these conditions are markers for many fold increase in risk for death notable already at 3 months after transport for patients with these conditions.

Effect of Specialized Critical Care Transport Unit on Short-Term Mortality of Critically ILL Patients Undergoing Interhospital Transport

Objective: To minimize risk and prevent harmful incidents during interhospital transport, the critical care transport unit service called Seoul Mobile Intensive Care Unit (SMICU) was organized and initiated its service within the city of Seoul. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of critical care transport units on outcomes of critically ill patients undergoing interhospital transport in Seoul. Methods: A retrospective observational case-control study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of critical care transport units on outcomes of critically ill patients undergoing interhospital transport. ED patients transported from other hospitals in Seoul during 2016 were identified in the National Emergency Department Information System (NEDIS) and according to use of the SMICU. One-to-one propensity matching was performed to balance covariates between groups. The association of SMICU transport on survival outcome was calculated in a multivariable logistic regression model. Results: Among 42,188 ED patients transported from other hospitals in 2016, 482 (1.1%) of patients were transported by SMICU. Patients transported by SMICU had a higher proportion of severe emergency disease and use of a mechanical ventilator. The adjusted odds ratio for 24-hour mortality after interhospital transport was 0.45 (95% CI: 0.26-0.81) in total cohort and was 0.34 (95% CI: 0.16-0.71) in a one-to-one propensity-matched cohort. Conclusions: Transport by specialized critical care transport unit for patients undergoing interhospital transport was associated with lower 24-hour mortality, demonstrating the benefits of the SMICU.

Patient safety incidents during interhospital transport of patients: A prospective analysis

INTRODUCTION

Interhospital transport of critically ill patients is at risk of complications. The objective of the study was to prospectively record patient safety incidents that occurred during interhospital transports and to determine their risk factors.

METHODS

We prospectively collected data during a fifteen-month period in 2 hospitals. Patient and transport characteristics were collected using a specifically designed tool. Patient safety incidents were appraised for health-care associated harm, and categorized as technical, operational, and communication problems.

RESULTS

Our study included 688 patients who were transferred to or from one of both hospitals by physician or nurse led transport, with complete records. A patient safety incident was reported in 16.7% of transports, health-care associated harm was noted in 3.9% of cases. In multivariate analysis, three factors remained significantly associated with an increased risk of healthcare-associated harm: operational incidents (odds ratio=144.93, 95% CI=37.55-767.50, P<0.001), communication incidents (odds ratio=11.05, 95% CI=3.02-52.99, P<0.001) and the Modified Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (M-SOFA) score (odds ratio=1.198, 95% CI=1.038-1.40, P=0.017).

CONCLUSIONS

The observed rate of patient safety incidents during interhospital transfers is lower than previously reported in the literature. However, there is limited previous work done on this topic. Operational and communication incidents, and a higher M-SOFA score are significantly associated with increase odds of harmful incident. These findings call for stricter preparation of transfers, with clear and standardized communication.

QUIT EMR trial: a prospective, observational, multicentre study to evaluate quality and 24 hours post-transport morbidity of interhospital transportation of critically ill patients: study protocol

INTRODUCTION

It is widely accepted that transportation of critically ill patients is high risk. Unfortunately, however, there are currently no evidence-based criteria with which to determine the quality of various interhospital transport systems and their impact on the outcomes for patients. We aim to rectify this by assessing 2 scores which were developed in our hospital in a prospective, observational study. Primarily, we will be examining the Quality of interhospital critical care transportation in the Euregion Meuse-Rhine (QUIT EMR) score, which focuses on the quality of the transport system, and secondarily the SEMROS (Simplified EMR outcome score) which detects changes in the patient's clinical condition in the 24 hours following their transportation.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

A web-based application will be used to document around 150 pretransport, intratransport and post-transport items of each patient case.To be included, patients must be at least 18-years of age and should have been supervised by a physician during an interhospital transport which was started in the study region.The quality of the QUIT EMR score will be assessed by comparing 3 predefined levels of transport facilities: the high, medium and low standards. Subsequently, SEMROS will be used to determine the effect of transport quality on the morbidity 24 hours after transportation.It is estimated that there will be roughly 3000 appropriate cases suitable for inclusion in this study per year. Cases shall be collected from 1 April 2015 until 31 December 2017.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

This trial was approved by the Ethics committees of the university hospitals of Maastricht (Netherlands) and Aachen (Germany). The study results will be published in a peer reviewed journal. Results of this study will determine if a prospective randomised trial involving patients of various categories being randomly assigned to different levels of transportation system shall be conducted.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

NTR4937.

The impact of changes in intensive care organization on patient outcome and cost-effectiveness-a narrative review

The mortality rate of critically ill patients is high and the cost of the intensive (ICU) department is among the highest within the health-care industry. The cost will continue to increase because of the aging population in the western world. In the present review, we will discuss the impact of changes in ICU department organization on patient outcome and cost-effectiveness. The general perception that drug and treatment discoveries are the main drivers behind improved patient outcome within the health-care industry is in general not true. This is especially the case for the ICU department, in which the past decades' organizational changes were the main drivers behind the reduction of ICU mortality. These interventions were at the same time able to reduce cost, something which is rare for drug and treatment discoveries. The organization of the intensive care department has been changed over the past decades, resulting in better patient outcome and reduction of cost. Major changes are the implementation of the "closed format" and electronic patient record. Furthermore, we will present possible future options to improve the organization of the ICU department to further reduce mortality and cost such as pooling of dedicated ICU into mixed ICU and embedding business strategies such as lean and total quality management. Challenges are ahead as the ICU is taking up the largest share of national health-care expenditure, and with the aging of the population, this will continue to increase. Besides future improvements of organizational structures within the ICU, the focus should also be on the implementation of and compliance with proven beneficial organizational structures.

Improved Oxygenation After Transport in Patients With Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study is to measure the rate and magnitude of changes in oxygenation that occur in patients with hypoxemic respiratory failure after transport by a critical care transport team.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective review of 239 transports of patients with hypoxemic respiratory failure requiring a fraction of inspired oxygen (Fio2) > 50% transported from October 2009 to December 2012 from referring hospitals to 3 tertiary care hospitals. We analyzed the change the ratio of the partial pressure of oxygen in the blood to FiO2 from the sending to the receiving hospital as well as the percentage saturation of oxygen (Spo2) before, after, and en route.

RESULTS

The mean change in the Pao2/Fio2 ratio from the sending to the receiving hospital was an increase of 27.62 (95% confidence interval [CI], 15.84-39.40; P = .0003). The mean change in Pao2 was an increase of 27.85 mm Hg (CI, 17.49-38.22; P < .0001). The mean Spo2 was not significantly changed at -0.12 (CI, - 1.69 to 1.45, P = .9). Despite improvement in the Pao2/Fio2 ratio and a stable Spo2 on arrival, 28.1% of patients desaturated to Spo2 < 90% in transport.

CONCLUSION

In patients with hypoxemic respiratory failure, Pao2/Fio2 and Pao2 increased after transport by a critical care transport team despite 28.1% of patients desaturating with hypoxemia in transit.

The Importance of Ground Critical Care Transport

Critical care transport (CCT) teams are specialized transport services, comprised of highly trained paramedics, nurses, and occasionally respiratory therapists, offering an expanded scope of practice beyond advanced life support (ALS) emergency medical service teams. We report 4 cases of patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome from influenza in need of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation evaluation at a tertiary care center, transported by ground. Our medical center did not previously have a ground CCT service, and therefore, in these cases, a physician and/or a respiratory therapist was sent with the paramedic team. In all 4 cases, the ground transport team enhanced the intensive care provided to these patients prior to arrival at the tertiary care center. In 2 of the cases, although limited by the profound hypoxemia, the team decreased the pressures and tidal volumes in an effort to approach evidence-based ventilator goals. In 3 cases, they stopped bicarbonate drips being used to treat mixed metabolic and respiratory acidosis, and in 1 case, they administered furosemide. In 1 case, they started cisatracurium, and in 3 others, they initiated inhaled epoprostenol. Existing literature supports the use of CCT teams over ALS teams for transport of the most critically ill patients, and helicopter CCT is not always available or practical. Therefore, offering comparable air and ground options, with similar staffing and resources, is a hallmark of a mature medical system with an integrated approach to CCT.

Inter-hospital and intra-hospital patient transfer: Recent concepts

The intra- and inter-hospital patient transfer is an important aspect of patient care which is often undertaken to improve upon the existing management of the patient. It may involve transfer of patient within the same facility for any diagnostic procedure or transfer to another facility with more advanced care. The main aim in all such transfers is maintaining the continuity of medical care. As the transfer of sick patient may induce various physiological alterations which may adversely affect the prognosis of the patient, it should be initiated systematically and according to the evidence-based guidelines. The key elements of safe transfer involve decision to transfer and communication, pre-transfer stabilisation and preparation, choosing the appropriate mode of transfer, i.e., land transport or air transport, personnel accompanying the patient, equipment and monitoring required during the transfer, and finally, the documentation and handover of the patient at the receiving facility. These key elements should be followed in each transfer to prevent any adverse events which may severely affect the patient prognosis. The existing international guidelines are evidence based from various professional bodies in developed countries. However, in developing countries like India, with limited infrastructure, these guidelines can be modified accordingly. The most important aspect is implementation of these guidelines in Indian scenario with periodical quality assessments to improve the standard of care.

Mobile Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Teams: The North American Versus the European Experience

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate differences in the inclusion of anesthesiologists in mobile extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) teams between North American and European centers.

DESIGN

A retrospective review of North American versus European mobile ECMO teams. The search terms used to identify relevant articles were the following: "extracorporeal membrane transport," "mobile ECMO," and "interhospital transport."

SETTING

MEDLINE review of articles.

PARTICIPANTS

None.

INTERVENTIONS

None.

RESULTS

Between 1986 and 2015, 25 articles were published that reported the personnel makeup of mobile ECMO teams in North America and Europe: 6 from North American centers and 19 from European centers. The included articles reported a total of 1,329 cases: 389 (29%) adult-only cohorts and 940 (71%) mixed-age cohorts. Among North American studies, 0 of 6 (0%) reported the presence of an anesthesiologist on the mobile ECMO team in contrast to European studies, in which 10 of 19 (53%) reported the inclusion of an anesthesiologist (Fisher exact p for difference = 0.05). In terms of number of cases, this discrepancy translated to 543 total cases in North America (all without an anesthesiologist) and 499 cases in Europe (37%) including an anesthesiologist on the team (Fisher exact p for difference<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrated significant geographic discrepancies in the inclusion of anesthesiologists on mobile ECMO teams, with European centers more likely to incorporate an anesthesiologist into the mobile ECMO process compared with North American centers.

Nurses versus physician-led interhospital critical care transport: a randomized non-inferiority trial

Purpose

Regionalization and concentration of critical care increases the need for interhospital transport. However, optimal staffing of ground critical care transport has not been evaluated.

Methods

In this prospective, randomized, open-label, blinded-endpoint non-inferiority trial, critically ill patients on mechanical ventilation transported by interhospital ground critical care transport were randomized between transport staffed by a dedicated team comprising a critical care nurse and paramedic (nurses group) or a dedicated team including a critical care physician (nurses + physician group). The primary outcome was the number of patients with critical events, both clinical and technical, during transport. Clinical events included decrease in blood pressure, oxygen saturation, or temperature, blood loss, new cardiac arrhythmias, or death. Non-inferiority was assumed if the upper limit of the two-sided 90 % confidence interval (CI) for the between-group difference lies below the non-inferiority margin of 3 %.

Results

Of 618 eligible transported critically ill patients, 298 could be analyzed after randomization and allocation to the nurses group (n = 147) or nurses + physician group (n = 151). The percentages of patients with critical events were 16.3 % (24 incidents in 147 transports) in the nurses group and 15.2 % (23 incidents in 151 transports) in the nurses + physician group (difference 1.1 %, two-sided 90 % CI [−5.9 to 8.1]). Critical events occurred in both groups at a higher than the expected (0–1 %) rate. In the nurses group consultations for physician assistance were requested in 8.2 % (12 in 147 transports), all of which were performed prior to transport.

Conclusions

The number of patients with critical events did not markedly differ between critical care transports staffed by a critical care nurse and paramedic compared to a team including a critical care physician. However, as a result of an unexpected higher rate of critical events in both groups recorded by an electronic health record, non-inferiority of nurse-led interhospital critical transport could not be established (http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN39701540).

Mechanical Ventilation in Critical Care Transport

OBJECTIVE

Although the benefit of transferring patients with hypoxemic respiratory failure to tertiary care centers has been shown, transporting hypoxemic patients remains controversial, given the risk of desaturation in transit.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective analysis of a database of critical care transports (CCTs) of patients with hypoxemic respiratory failure to quantify the number, types, and effects of ventilator changes performed by the CCT teams. We evaluated the changes in fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2), positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP), tidal volume, both FiO2 and PEEP, and the administration of a neuromuscular blocking medication to assess for an association with an improvement in the arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) from the sending to the receiving hospitals.

RESULTS

Ventilator changes were made in 211 (89%) of the 237 identified transports, with significant changes in the tidal volume, PEEP, and FiO2. Analysis of variance revealed a significant relationship between changes in FiO2, PEEP, tidal volume, FiO2 and PEEP, and the administration of neuromuscular blocking agents and change in PaO2 (F5,1037 = 119.6, P < .001). Multivariable regression analyses showed a significant association between an increase in PaO2 and increasing FiO2, increasing FiO2 and PEEP, and the administration of a neuromuscular blocking medication.

CONCLUSION

The CCT team performed multiple changes to ventilators. Complex ventilator management was associated with a higher PaO2 on arrival.

Mortality and Resource Utilization After Critical Care Transport of Patients With Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure

INTRODUCTION

We performed this study to quantify resources required by mechanically ventilated patients with hypoxemia after critical care transport (CCT) and to assess short-term clinical outcomes.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective review of transports of patients with severe hypoxemic respiratory failure from referring hospitals to 3 tertiary care hospitals to assess the outcomes including in-hospital mortality, ventilator days, intensive care unit length of stay (LOS), hospital LOS, disposition, and reported neurologic status on hospital discharge as well as medical interventions specific to acute respiratory failure and critical care.

RESULTS

Of 230 patients transported with hypoxemic respiratory failure, 152 survived to hospital discharge, for a mortality rate of 34.5%, despite a predicted mortality of 64% by Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score. Twenty-five percent of patients were treated with neuromuscular blockade, 10.1% received inhaled pulmonary vasodilators, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was initiated in 2.6%.

CONCLUSIONS

In this cohort with hypoxemic respiratory failure transported to tertiary care facilities, patients had a mortality rate comparable to patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome treated with best practices and a mortality rate lower than predicted based on APACHE-II score. The risks of CCT are outweighed by the benefits of transfer to a tertiary care facility, and pretransport hypoxemia should not be used as an absolute contraindication to transport.

Medication Administration in Critical Care Transport of Adult Patients with Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure

INTRODUCTION

Critical care transport (CCT) teams must manage a wide array of medications before and during transport. Appreciating the medications required for transport impacts formulary development as well as staff education and training. Problem As there are few data describing the patterns of medication administration, this study quantifies medication administrations and patterns in a series of adult CCTs.

METHODS

This was a retrospective review of medication administration during CCTs of patients with severe hypoxemic respiratory failure from October 2009 through December 2012 from referring hospitals to three tertiary care hospitals.

RESULTS

Two hundred thirty-nine charts were identified for review. Medications were administered by the CCT team to 98.7% of these patients, with only three patients not receiving any medications from the team. Fifty-nine medications were administered in total with 996 instances of administration. Fifteen drugs were each administered to only one patient. The mean number of medications per patient was 4.2 (SD=1.8) with a mean of 1.9 (SD=1.1) drug infusions per patient.

CONCLUSIONS

These results demonstrate that, even within a relatively homogeneous population of patients transferred with hypoxemic respiratory failure, a wide range of medications were administered. The CCT teams frequently initiated, titrated, and discontinued continuous infusions, in addition to providing numerous doses of bolused medications.

Five-year experience with mobile adult extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in a tertiary referral center

INTRODUCTION

Mobile extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is reserved for critically unstable patients who may not otherwise survive transfer to the ECMO center. We describe our experience with mobile ECMO.

METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed adult patients between 2010 and 2014 who were referred for ECMO support and were too unwell for conventional transfer. They were cannulated at their referring center by our team and subsequently transported back to our hospital on ECMO.

RESULTS

A total of 102 patients were put on ECMO by our team. Of 102 patients, 95 (93%) were managed by venovenous ECMO, and 7 (7%), by venoarterial ECMO. The average distance traveled was 195 miles (SD, ±256.8; range, 3.6-980). Transportation was via road in 77 cases (77%), by air in 22 cases (22%), and in 3 cases (3%) a combination of road and air was used. A double-lumen Avalon cannula was used in 72 patients (70%). One patient had a ventricular tachycardia arrest during cannulation but was successfully resuscitated. There was no mortality or major complications during transfer.

CONCLUSION

The use of mobile ECMO in adult patients is a safe modality for transfer of critically unwell patients. We have safely used double-lumen cannulas in most of these patients.

Short-term outcomes and mortality after interhospital intensive care transportation: an observational prospective cohort study of 368 consecutive transports with a mobile intensive care unit

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate short-term outcomes and mortality after interhospital transportation of intensive care patients performed by a mobile intensive care unit (MICU).

SETTING

This study was performed in the tertiary care process of interhospital transportation using the local MICU system in the South East of the Netherlands.

PARTICIPANTS

Between March 2009 and December 2011, all transports of adult patients being performed by the local MICU centre have been documented; data on 42 variables, including a 24 h follow-up Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score of 368 consecutive interhospital transports of intensive care patients, were recorded. In 24 cases, the follow-up SOFA score was missing, so 344 data sets were included.

INTERVENTIONS

No interventions have been done.

PRIMARY/SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES

Primary outcome measures were the mean SOFA score before and 24 h after transport, and the 24 h post-transport mortality. Moreover, the differences between the groups of 24 h post-transport survivors and non-survivors have been analysed.

RESULTS

The mean SOFA score before transport was 8.8 for the whole population and 8.6 for those patients who were alive 24 h after transport, with a mean SOFA score of 8.4 after transport. The adverse events rate was 6.4%. Fourteen patients (4.1%) died within 24 h after transport. Patients in this group had a higher SOFA score, lower pH, higher age and more additional medical support devices than those patients in the survivor group.

CONCLUSIONS

The non-significant decrease in the post-transport SOFA score and the lack of an association between transport and 24 h post-transport mortality indicates that in the study setting, interhospital transportation of intensive care patients performed by a MICU system was not associated with a clinically relevant deterioration of the patient.

[Out of hospital emergencies towards a safety culture]

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study is to measure the degree of safety culture (CS) among healthcare professional workers of an out-of-hospital Emergency Medical Service. Most patient safety studies have been conducted in relation to the hospital rather than pre-hospital Emergency Medical Services. The objective is to analyze the dimensions with lower scores in order to plan futures strategies.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A descriptive study using the AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) questionnaire. The questionnaire was delivered to all healthcare professionals workers of 061 Advanced Life Support Units of Aragón, during the month of August 2013.

RESULTS

The response rate was 55%. Main strengths detected: an adequate number of staff (96%), good working conditions (89%), tasks supported from immediate superior (77%), teamwork climate (74%), and non-punitive environment to report adverse events (68%). Areas for improvement: insufficient training in patient safety (53%) and lack of feedback of incidents reported (50%).

CONCLUSIONS

The opportunities for improvement identified focus on the training of professionals in order to ensure safer care, while extending the safety culture. Also, the implementation of a system of notification and registration of adverse events in the service is deemed necessary.

Critical care transportation by paramedics: a cross-sectional survey

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to gather data from paramedics practicing in the critical care transport setting to guide development of the education, training, and clinical practices for certification as a critical care paramedic.

METHODS

A paper survey of 1991 randomly selected nationally registered (NREMT) paramedics was conducted. Nine paramedics with residences in small US Pacific Island territories were not included in the survey.

RESULTS

We received 610 responses (30.6%). Respondents that stated that they provided critical care transport services reported using pediatric skills and equipment the most and intracranial pressure monitoring the least. Paramedics served as the primary provider for pediatric patients (72.5%), 12-lead electrocardiogram (66.3%), intravenous infusion pump (76.7%), mechanical ventilator (66.9%), central line management (63.1%), and chest tube management (63.3%). Paramedics served in a team member capacity most often with neonatal isolette (71.8%), intra-aortic balloon pump (79.2%), and ICP monitoring (64.9%). The majority provided ground critical care transport (249) compared to 44 rotor-wing and 6 fixed-wing. Sixteen respondents reported serving as primary providers on combinations of ground, rotor-, and fixed-wing services.

CONCLUSIONS

Paramedics reported being the primary provider on the critical care transport team and performing skills while using equipment and administering medications that exceeded their education and training as paramedic and, at times, without the benefit of any additional education or training. National appreciation of this reality should spur development of standardized education, licensing or certification, and continuing education to prepare paramedics for their role as critical care medical providers.

When place and time matter: How to conduct safe inter-hospital transfer of patients

Inter-hospital transfer (IHT) of patients is often needed for diagnostic or therapeutic interventions. However, the transfer process carries its own risks as a poorly and hastily conducted transfer could lead to adverse events. In this article, we have reviewed literature on the key elements of IHT process including pre-transfer patient stabilization. We have also discussed various modes of transfer, physiological effects of transfer, possible adverse events and how to avoid or mitigate these. Even critically ill-patients can be transported safely by experienced and trained personnel using appropriate equipment. The patient must be maximally stabilized prior to transfer though complete optimization may be possible only at the receiving hospital. Ground or air transport may be employed depending on the urgency, feasibility and availability. Meticulous pre-transfer check and adherence to standard protocols during the transfer will help keep the entire process smooth and event free. The transport team should be trained to anticipate and manage any possible adverse events, medical or technical, during the transfer. Coordination between the referring and receiving hospitals would facilitate prompt transfer to the definitive destination avoiding delay at the emergency or casualty. Documentation of the transfer process and transfer of medical record and investigation reports are important for maintaining continuity of medical care and for medico-legal purposes.

Early application of airway pressure release ventilation may reduce mortality in high-risk trauma patients: a systematic review of observational trauma ARDS literature

BACKGROUND

Adult respiratory distress syndrome is often refractory to treatment and develops after entering the health care system. This suggests an opportunity to prevent this syndrome before it develops. The objective of this study was to demonstrate that early application of airway pressure release ventilation in high-risk trauma patients reduces hospital mortality as compared with similarly injured patients on conventional ventilation.

METHODS

Systematic review of observational data in patients who received conventional ventilation in other trauma centers were compared with patients treated with early airway pressure release ventilation in our trauma center. Relevant studies were identified in a PubMed and MEDLINE search from 1995 to 2012 and included prospective and retrospective observational and cohort studies enrolling 100 or more adult trauma patients with reported adult respiratory distress syndrome incidence and mortality data.

RESULTS

Early airway pressure release ventilation as compared with the other trauma centers represented lower mean adult respiratory distress syndrome incidence (14.0% vs. 1.3%) and in-hospital mortality (14.1% vs. 3.9%).

CONCLUSION

These data suggest that early airway pressure release ventilation may prevent progression of acute lung injury in high-risk trauma patients, reducing trauma-related adult respiratory distress syndrome mortality.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Systematic review, level IV.

Mortality of interhospital transfers originating from an emergency department in Perth, Western Australia

BACKGROUND

Interhospital transfer (IHT) is an integral part of emergency practice and required to access specialist care.

AIM

To identify factors that predict in-hospital mortality for IHT originating from an Emergency Department (ED).

METHOD

A retrospective cohort study utilising linked health data from the ED Information System database, Death Register and the Hospital Morbidity Data examined all IHTs originating from a public hospital ED and transferred to a tertiary hospital ED (ED-ED IHT), January 1st 2002-December 31st 2006.

RESULTS

There were 27,776 ED-ED IHTs. In-hospital mortality was 2.1% (95% CI 1.9-2.3%). Age, male sex, clinical deterioration by one or ≥2 levels on the Australasian Triage Scale (ATS) and circulatory or respiratory disease increased risk of mortality. Clinical improvement by one level on the ATS, injury or poisoning, digestive disease, transfer from 2004 to 2006 and exposure to access block reduced risk of mortality. Other than year of transfer, injury or poisoning, digestive and respiratory disease, these factors were also predictive of mortality within 1-day of transfer.

CONCLUSION

Multiple factors influence mortality following IHT from an ED. Awareness of these factors helps to optimise risk reduction. The limited infrastructure and resourcing available in non-tertiary hospitals are important considerations.

The incomplete infrastructure for interhospital patient transfer

OBJECTIVE

Interhospital transfer of critically ill patients is a common part of their care. This article sought to review the data on the current patterns of use of interhospital transfer and identify systematic barriers to optimal integration of transfer as a mechanism for improving patient outcomes and value of care.

DATA SOURCE

Narrative review of medical and organizational literature.

SUMMARY

Interhospital transfer of patients is common, but not optimized to improve patient outcomes. Although there is a wide variability in quality among hospitals of nominally the same capability, patients are not consistently transferred to the highest quality nearby hospital. Instead, transfer destinations are selected by organizational routines or non-patient-centered organizational priorities. Accomplishing a transfer is often quite difficult for sending hospitals. But once a transfer destination is successfully found, the mechanics of interhospital transfer now appear quite safe.

CONCLUSION

Important technological advances now make it possible to identify nearby hospitals best able to help critically ill patients, and to successfully transfer patients to those hospitals. However, organizational structures have not yet developed to insure that patients are optimally routed, resulting in potentially significant excess mortality.

Impact of a preventive programme on the occurrence of incidents during the transport of critically ill patients

OBJECTIVE

Incidents related to transport of critically ill patients have been extensively reported. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of an interdisciplinary preventive programme used by all intensive care unit team members involved in patients' transport on the rate of these incidents.

METHODS

A clinical quality improvement audit using a prospective pre and post intervention design was performed among medical and surgical patients hospitalised in intensive care who required intra or inter-hospital transport.

RESULTS

A total of 180 transports occurred in the pre-implementation phase of the study and 187 transports in the post-implementation phase. A 20% absolute reduction of incidents was observed (57.2% vs. 37.4%, p<0.001). Statistically significant reductions were obtained for the technical problems category of incidents (25% vs. 7.5%, p<0.001) as well as the problems related to patient's mobilisation category (14.4% vs. 7.5%, p=0.05). Clinically significant trends were also observed for the clinical deterioration (24.4% vs. 17.1%, p=0.11) and undesired delay before test (23.9% vs. 17.6%, p=0.14) categories but did not reach statistical significance.

CONCLUSIONS

A preventive programme applied by all care providers involved in transport of critically ill patients was associated with a reduction of incidents. The application of such a programme should be acknowledged as a standard of care considering the risks inherent to the transportation of ICU patients.

Long-range critical care evacuation and reoperative surgery

Long-range critical care aeromedical evacuation has significantly contributed to the unprecedented survival during recent military operations. With advances in critical care, patients with increased injury severity and overall complexity are routinely evacuated while resuscitation is ongoing. Additional specialty teams now provide advanced pulmonary rescue therapies for the most critically ill patients. As part of the continuum of trauma care, an overseas fixed facility provides follow-on emergency surgical critical care to optimize patient outcomes before final evacuation to the continental United States.

Patient safety in emergency medical services: a systematic review of the literature

BACKGROUND

Preventable harm from medical care has been extensively documented in the inpatient setting. Emergency medical services (EMS) providers care for patients in dynamic and challenging environments; prehospital emergency care is a field that represents an area of high risk for errors and harm, but has received relatively little attention in the patient safety literature.

OBJECTIVE

To identify the threats to patient safety unique to the EMS environment and interventions that mitigate those threats, we completed a systematic review of the literature.

METHODS

We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) for combinations of key EMS and patient safety terms composed by a pan-canadian expert panel using a year limit of 1999 to 2011. We excluded commentaries, opinions, letters, abstracts, and non-english publications. Two investigators performed an independent hierarchical screening of titles, abstracts, and full-text articles blinded to source. We used the kappa statistic to examine interrater agreement. Any differences were resolved by consensus.

RESULTS

We retrieved 5,959 titles, and 88 publications met the inclusion criteria and were categorized into seven themes: adverse events and medication errors (22 articles), clinical judgment (13), communication (6), ground vehicle safety (9), aircraft safety (6), interfacility transport (16), and intubation (16). Two articles were randomized controlled trials; the remainder were systematic reviews, prospective observational studies, retrospective database/chart reviews, qualitative interviews, or surveys. The kappa statistics for titles, abstracts, and full-text articles were 0.65, 0.79, and 0.87, respectively, for the first search and 0.60, 0.74, and 0.85 for the second.

CONCLUSIONS

We found a paucity of scientific literature exploring patient safety in EMS. Research is needed to improve our understanding of problem magnitude and threats to patient safety and to guide interventions.

Inter-hospital transport of critically ill patients; expect surprises

Introduction

Inter-hospital transport of critically ill patients is increasing. When performed by specialized retrieval teams there are less adverse events compared to transport by ambulance. These transports are performed with technical equipment also used in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). As a consequence technical problems may arise and have to be dealt with on the road. In this study, all technical problems encountered while transporting patients with our mobile intensive care unit service (MICU) were evaluated.

Methods

From March 2009 until August 2011 all transports were reviewed for technical problems. The cause, solution and, where relevant, its influence on protocol were stated.

Results

In this period of 30 months, 353 patients were transported. In total 55 technical problems were encountered. We provide examples of how they influenced transport and how they may be resolved.

Conclusion

The use of technical equipment is part of intensive care medicine. Wherever this kind of equipment is used, technical problems will occur. During inter-hospital transports, without extra personnel or technical assistance, the transport team is dependent on its own ability to resolve these problems. Therefore, we emphasize the importance of having some technical understanding of the equipment used and the importance of training to anticipate, prevent and resolve technical problems. Being an outstanding intensivist on the ICU does not necessarily mean being qualified for transporting the critically ill as well. Although these are lessons derived from inter-hospital transport, they may also apply to intra-hospital transport.

Quality of interhospital transport of the critically ill: impact of a Mobile Intensive Care Unit with a specialized retrieval team

Introduction

In order to minimize the additional risk of interhospital transport of critically ill patients, we started a mobile intensive care unit (MICU) with a specialized retrieval team, reaching out from our university hospital-based intensive care unit to our adherence region in March 2009. To evaluate the effects of this implementation, we performed a prospective audit comparing adverse events and patient stability during MICU transfers with our previous data on transfers performed by standard ambulance.

Methods

All transfers performed by MICU from March 2009 until December 2009 were included. Data on 14 vital variables were collected at the moment of departure, arrival and 24 hours after admission. Variables before and after transfer were compared using the paired-sample T-test. Major deterioration was expressed as a variable beyond a predefined critical threshold and was analyzed using the McNemar test and the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test. Results were compared to the data of our previous prospective study on interhospital transfer performed by ambulance.

Results

A total of 74 interhospital transfers of ICU patients over a 10-month period were evaluated. An increase of total number of variables beyond critical threshold at arrival, indicating a worsening of condition, was found in 38 percent of patients. Thirty-two percent exhibited a decrease of one or more variables beyond critical threshold and 30% showed no difference. There was no correlation between patient status at arrival and the duration of transfer or severity of disease. ICU mortality was 28%. Systolic blood pressure, glucose and haemoglobin were significantly different at arrival compared to departure, although significant values for major deterioration were never reached. Compared to standard ambulance transfers of ICU patients, there were less adverse events: 12.5% vs. 34%, which in the current study were merely caused by technical (and not medical) problems. Although mean Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score was significantly higher, patients transferred by MICU showed less deterioration in pulmonary parameters during transfer than patients transferred by standard ambulance.

Conclusions

Transfer by MICU imposes less risk to critically ill patients compared to transfer performed by standard ambulance and has, therefore, resulted in an improved quality of interhospital transport of ICU patients in the north-eastern part of the Netherlands.

Management of suspected myocarditis during critical-care transport

Myocarditis and malignant dysrhythmias are unusual presentations in pediatric patients. We report a series of 4 patients with myocarditis and arrhythmia who presented to community emergency departments and were transported to a pediatric tertiary-care center. Three of the patients required extracorporeal life support. We discuss considerations for stabilization and transport: airway and ventilation, hemodynamic support, induction and sedation medication choices, transport decisions, and the traits of an ideal receiving center.

Extracorporeal life support for management of refractory cardiac or respiratory failure: initial experience in a tertiary centre

Introduction

Extracorporeal Life Support (ECLS) and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) have been indicated as treatment for acute respiratory and/or cardiac failure. Here we describe our first year experience of in-hospital ECLS activity, the operative algorithm and the protocol for centralization of adult patients from district hospitals.

Methods

At a tertiary referral trauma center (Careggi Teaching Hospital, Florence, Italy), an ECLS program was developed from 2008 by the Emergency Department and Heart and Vessel Department ICUs. The ECLS team consists of an intensivist, a cardiac surgeon, a cardiologist and a perfusionist, all trained in ECLS technique. ECMO support was applied in case of severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) not responsive to conventional treatments. The use of veno-arterial (V-A) ECLS for cardiac support was reserved for cases of cardiac shock refractory to standard treatment and cardiac arrests not responding to conventional resuscitation.

Results

A total of 21 patients were treated with ECLS during the first year of activity. Among them, 13 received ECMO for ARDS (5 H1N1-virus related), with a 62% survival. In one case of post-traumatic ARDS, V-A ECLS support permitted multiple organ donation after cerebral death was confirmed. Patients treated with V-A ECLS due to cardiogenic shock (N = 4) had a survival rate of 50%. No patients on V-A ECLS support after cardiac arrest survived (N = 4).

Conclusions

In our centre, an ECLS Service was instituted over a relatively limited period of time. A strict collaboration between different specialists can be regarded as a key feature to efficiently implement the process.

Recommendations for the intra-hospital transport of critically ill patients

Introduction

This study was conducted to provide Intensive Care Units and Emergency Departments with a set of practical procedures (check-lists) for managing critically-ill adult patients in order to avoid complications during intra-hospital transport (IHT).

Methods

Digital research was carried out via the MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and HEALTHSTAR databases using the following key words: transferring, transport, intrahospital or intra-hospital, and critically ill patient. The reference bibliographies of each of the selected articles between 1998 and 2009 were also studied.

Results

This review focuses on the analysis and overcoming of IHT-related risks, the associated adverse events, and their nature and incidence. The suggested preventive measures are also reviewed. A check-list for quick execution of IHT is then put forward and justified.

Conclusions

Despite improvements in IHT practices, significant risks are still involved. Basic training, good clinical sense and a risk-benefit analysis are currently the only deciding factors. A critically ill patient, prepared and accompanied by an inexperienced team, is a risky combination. The development of adapted equipment and the widespread use of check-lists and proper training programmes would increase the safety of IHT and reduce the risks in the long-term. Further investigation is required in order to evaluate the protective role of such preventive measures.

[Long distance interhospital transport. Accuracy of severity scoring system]

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the hospital mortality risk for patients transported from a regional hospital to its second-level reference hospital using several scoring systems: Rapid Acute Physiology Score (RAPS), Rapid Emergency Medicine Score (REMS), SAPS II and APACHE II.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Prospective observational study of patients transferred from the Sant Hospital in la Seu d'Urgell to the University Hospital Arnau de Vilanova in Lleida, at a distance of 132 km.

PATIENTS

Consecutive cohort of 134 patients transferred between October 2005 and July 2007.

MAIN VARIABLES

Several data were collected, such as variables on demography, stay, severity score, diagnosis on admission, destination service and procedures, such as mechanical ventilation, inotropics, sedation, neuromuscular blockers and antiarrhythmics. Variable of result was hospital mortality.

RESULTS

The average transfer time was 105 +/- 14 minutes; 31.6% of the patients were admitted to an ICU; 16 (11,9%) patients died during hospital stay. The APACHE II and SAPS II scores got significantly higher values in those patients who died. The RAPS and REMS scores showed no significant differences among dead and survivors. The higher the APACHE II and SAPS II scores, the higher the proportion of mortality. The RAPS and REMS scores did not prove to have that tendency. Area under ROC curve was higher for APACHE II (0.76; 95% CI, 0.63-0.89) and SAPS II (0.78; 95% CI, 0.67-0.89), compared to those of RAPS (0.59; 95% CI, 0.43-0.75) and REMS (0.63; 95% CI, 0.49-0.78).

CONCLUSIONS

The severity of illness measured with APACHE II and SAPS II is able to identify those patients with a higher predictive of mortality. It is a priority to have the right previous stabilization and the adequately trained team to provide care during the transfer, when facing lengthy journey times.

Pro/con debate: do the benefits of regionalized critical care delivery outweigh the risks of interfacility patient transport?

You are providing input in planning for critical care services to a large regional health authority. You are considering concentrating some critical care services into high-volume regional centres of excellence, as has been done in other fields of medicine. In your region, this would require several centres with differing levels of expertise that are geographically separated. Given there are inherent risks and time delays associated with interfacility patient transport, you debate whether these potential risks outweigh the benefits of regional centres of excellence.

Predominance of neurologic diseases in international aeromedical transportation

BACKGROUND

International travel industry in Taiwan is expanding. The number of people traveling abroad was approximately 480,000 people in 1980; 2,940,000 in 1990; 7,320,000 in 2000, and in 2007, it has reached 8,960,000, which was more than one third of total population. Air medical transportation will be necessary when local medical facilities do not approximate the international standards. No previous study on epidemiology in Taiwan on patients received international medical repatriation. This is the first report to discuss the epidemiology of Taiwan's international aeromedical transportation and its focus on neurologic diseases.

METHOD

Retrospective analysis of all international aeromedical transports on Taiwanese patients from October 2005 to September 2007 was performed. All materials were collected from the databank of International SOS, Taipei. The data were analyzed with Microsoft Excel and SPSS v. 11.0 software (SPSS, Chicago, Ill).

RESULTS

A total of 416 patients were transported. Excluding expatriates transported outbound and 2-stage inbound transports, the Taiwanese patient number with international aeromedical transport was 379; 51 by air ambulance and 328 commercially. There were 271 male (72%) and 108 female patients (18%). Of the 379 patients, 178 (47%) were neurologic diseases. Two hundred ninety-five (78%) patients were transported from China. Patient transports peaked in autumn by 105 (28%). Of all 33 ventilated patients, 12 (36%) were neurologic diseases. In-flight complications occurred in 10% of neurologic and 2% of nonneurologic cases. No in-flight mortality occurred in both groups.

CONCLUSION

Neurologic diseases comprise most of the Taiwanese patients that requires medical transportation. With relatively suboptimal medical standard and high medical expenses in China, patients with neurologic conditions need timely and safe aeromedical transport than those with other diseases. Transport of patients with neurologic diseases, either by air ambulance or commercial flights, can only be safely performed by well-trained medical escorts and comprehensive logistic arrangements.

Interhospital patient transport by rotary wing aircraft in a combat environment: risks, adverse events, and process improvement

BACKGROUND

Helicopter transport of injured or ill patients in Operation Iraqi Freedom is a necessary but often high-risk endeavor. Our facility initiated a thorough process improvement and standardization initiative after several adverse outcomes. This report describes the results after this initiative, and evaluates the applicability of a civilian transport risk assessment tool to the combat environment.

METHODS

Review of all preflight, in-flight, and postflight records for helicopter medevac missions over a 7-month period. Adverse events included major equipment failures, clinical deterioration, or the need for urgent interventions on arrival. Transport risk scores (TRS) were calculated and assessed for correlation with adverse events.

RESULTS

There were 149 patient transports identified, 95 (64%) for trauma (mean Injury Severity Score, 21) and 54 (36%) for medical illness. Major surgical intervention before the flight was required in 66 (44%), massive transfusion in 29 (20%), and the majority were transported within 8 hours of surgery. In-flight mechanical ventilation was required in 53%, and 20% required vasopressors or cardioactive medications. Adverse events included equipment failures in 17% of flights, in-flight clinical deterioration in 30%, and 9% required an urgent intervention on arrival. However, there were no deaths or significant flight-related morbidities identified. The mean TRS was significantly higher in patients with adverse events (9.1) versus those without (7.4, p < 0.05), but it showed only moderate discriminative ability (area under curve = 0.65, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Helicopter transport in a combat environment carries significant risk of adverse events because of the patient characteristics and inherent limitations of the transport platform. Strict attention to standardization, training, and process improvement is necessary to achieve optimal outcomes. The civilian TRS had lower discriminative ability in this military setting.

Adverse events during rotary-wing transport of mechanically ventilated patients: a retrospective cohort study

Introduction

Patients triaged to tertiary care centers frequently undergo rotary-wing transport and may be exposed to additional risk for adverse events. The incidence of physiologic adverse events and their predisposing factors in mechanically ventilated patients undergoing aeromedical transport are unknown.

Methods

We performed a retrospective review of flight records of all interfacility, rotary-wing transports to a tertiary care, university hospital during 2001 to 2003. All patients receiving mechanical ventilation via endotracheal tube or tracheostomy were included; trauma, scene flights, and fixed transports were excluded. Data were abstracted from patient flight and hospital records. Adverse events were classified as either major (death, arrest, pneumothorax, or seizure) or minor (physiologic decompensation, new arrhythmia, or requirement for new sedation/paralysis). Bivariate associations between hospital and flight characteristics and the presence of adverse events were examined.

Results

Six hundred eighty-two interfacility flights occurred during the period of review, with 191 patients receiving mechanical ventilation. Fifty-eight different hospitals transferred patients, with diagnoses that were primarily cardiopulmonary (45%) and neurologic (37%). Median flight distance and time were 42 (31 to 83) km and 13 (8 to 22) minutes, respectively. No major adverse events occurred during flight. Forty patients (22%) experienced a minor physiologic adverse event. Vasopressor requirement prior to flight and flight distance were associated with the presence of adverse events in-flight (P < 0.05). Patient demographics, time of day, season, transferring hospital characteristics, and ventilator settings before and during flight were not associated with adverse events.

Conclusion

Major adverse events are rare during interfacility, rotary-wing transfer of critically ill, mechanically ventilated patients. Patients transferred over a longer distance or transferred on vasopressors may be at greater risk for minor adverse events during flight.

A German national prevalence study on the cost of intensive care: an evaluation from 51 intensive care units

Introduction

Intensive care unit (ICU) costs account for up to 20% of a hospital's costs. We aimed to analyse the individual patient-related cost of intensive care at various hospital levels and for different groups of disease.

Methods

Data from 51 ICUs all over Germany (15 primary care hospitals and 14 general care hospitals, 10 maximal care hospitals and 12 focused care hospitals) were collected in an observational, cross-sectional, one-day point prevalence study by two external study physicians (January–October 2003). All ICU patients (length of stay > 24 hours) treated on the study day were included. The reason for admission, severity of illness, surgical/diagnostic procedures, resource consumption, ICU/hospital length of stay, outcome and ICU staffing structure were documented.

Results

Altogether 453 patients were included. ICU (hospital) mortality was 12.1% (15.7%). The reason for admission and the severity of illness differed between the hospital levels of care, with a higher amount of unscheduled surgical procedures and patients needing mechanical ventilation in maximal care hospital and focused care hospital facilities. The mean total costs per day were €791 ± 305 (primary care hospitals, €685 ± 234; general care hospitals, €672 ± 199; focused care hospitals, €816 ± 363; maximal care hospitals, €923 ± 306), with the highest cost in septic patients (€1,090 ± 422). Differences were associated with staffing, the amount of prescribed drugs/blood products and diagnostic procedures.

Conclusion

The reason for admission, the severity of illness and the occurrence of severe sepsis are directly related to the level of ICU cost. A high fraction of costs result from staffing (up to 62%). Specialized and maximum care hospitals treat a higher proportion of the more severely ill and most expensive patients.

Decision making in interhospital transport of critically ill patients: national questionnaire survey among critical care physicians

Objective

This study assessed the relative importance of clinical and transport-related factors in physicians' decision-making regarding the interhospital transport of critically ill patients.

Methods

The medical heads of all 95 ICUs in The Netherlands were surveyed with a questionnaire using 16 case vignettes to evaluate preferences for transportability; 78 physicians (82%) participated. The vignettes varied in eight factors with regard to severity of illness and transport conditions. Their relative weights were calculated for each level of the factors by conjoint analysis and expressed in β. The reference value (β = 0) was defined as the optimal conditions for critical care transport; a negative β indicated preference against transportability.

Results

The type of escorting personnel (paramedic only: β = –3.1) and transport facilities (standard ambulance β = –1.21) had the greatest negative effect on preference for transportability. Determinants reflecting severity of illness were of relative minor importance (dose of noradrenaline β = –0.6, arterial oxygenation β = –0.8, level of peep β = –0.6). Age, cardiac arrhythmia, and the indication for transport had no significant effect.

Conclusions

Escorting personnel and transport facilities in interhospital transport were considered as most important by intensive care physicians in determining transportability. When these factors are optimal, even severely critically ill patients are considered able to undergo transport. Further clinical research should tailor transport conditions to optimize the use of expensive resources in those inevitable road trips.

Evaluation of a simplified therapeutic intervention scoring system (TISS-28) and the modified early warning score (MEWS) in predicting physiological deterioration during inter-facility transport

INTRODUCTION

There is an emerging demand for inter-facility transport (IFT) of patients in recent years following changes in the healthcare framework in Hong Kong but this carries certain risks. Anticipation of possible deterioration of patients is important for patient safety and therefore risk stratification of patients before transport is important.

OBJECTIVE

This study evaluated the simplified therapeutic intervention scoring system (TISS-28) and modified early warning score (MEWS) in predicting physiological deterioration en route.

METHODS

This is a prospective single centre study of all emergency IFT for adult patients, excluding patients with obstetric conditions, occurring between 1 January 2005 and 30 June 2006. The severity of illness was quantified in terms of TISS-28 and MEWS. Mann-Whitney test and receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves were used to illustrate and compare their performance.

RESULTS

Among 102 patients requiring IFT, 28 had physiological deterioration en route (27%). The TISS-28 scores upon dispatch ranged from 5 to 34 with a mean of 16.5+/-5.71 whereas MEWS ranged from 0 to 11 with a mean of 2.82+/-2.01. The incidence of physiological deterioration en route was significantly greater with a higher MEWS score (P=0.001) but this was not seen with the TISS-28 score. The area under the ROC curve for the predictive value of MEWS was 0.71 which performed better than TISS-28 (area under the curve=0.53).

CONCLUSION

IFT represents a group of patients with vast heterogeneity. TISS-28 is not a useful tool for risk stratification prior to transport. MEWS was able to identify patients at risk but was not ideal.

Emergency air medical services for patients with head injury

BACKGROUND

Patients suffering head injury in remote islands of Taiwan, which have a shortage of manpower and facilities, depend on EAMS for prompt and definitive treatment. Emergency air medical services are becoming an increasingly important issue in improving the quality of primary care and avoiding medicolegal problems. The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of patients with head injury and use of EAMS.

METHODS

We reviewed all patients, especially head injury transported by air ambulance from a remote island, Kinmen (400 km from Taiwan Main Island), from January 2001 to December 2003. Data were collected with regard to demographics, disease classification, mechanism of injury, severity of head injury, ventilator use, and mortality rate.

RESULTS

A total of 215 patients were transferred, of whom 57 (27%) had head injury. The mean age of patients was 48.6 +/- 23.8 years. Males accounted for 72% of the cases (male/female ratio, 2.6:1). Motor-vehicle accidents were the most common mechanism of injury (68%). There were 21 (37%), 20 (35%), and 16 (28%) patients in the minor, moderate, and severe head-injury groups, respectively. Nineteen patients (33%) received mechanical ventilation. The overall mortality rate was 14 % (8/57). In the severe head-injury group, the mortality rate was 44% (7/16).

CONCLUSIONS

The higher incidence of head injury (26.5%) in EAMS than in ground transportation (19.8%) suggests that preflight assessment and in-flight management of patients conducted by an experienced escort team following guidelines for head injury in EAMS are a very important issue.

Do specialist transport personnel improve hospital outcome in critically ill patients transferred to higher centers? A systematic review

PURPOSE

The aim of the study was to determine whether the use of specialist transport personnel improves patient outcome at the receiving hospital for critically ill patients transferred to higher centers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A search of 6 electronic databases, 15 relevant journals, and the reference lists of all retrieved articles was conducted for studies comparing outcome at the receiving hospital for critically ill adult or pediatric patients transported by dedicated transport crews or tertiary-based specialists with other forms of transport personnel including referring house staff. All potentially relevant articles were retrieved in full and reviewed independently by 2 reviewers to determine eligibility for inclusion. Data were tabulated and results were summarized.

RESULTS

Six cohort studies (n = 4534) were included. When patients of equal severity were assessed, only 1 study demonstrated an improvement in outcome at the receiving hospital (survival to 6 hours) when specialist personnel transported the patients. Methodological limitations and interstudy differences in participants and transport personnel precluded pooling of results.

CONCLUSIONS

Current data are insufficient. The study designs used create opportunity for significant bias, preventing any useful inferences to be drawn. Further study is warranted.