A Critical Link: Brenner Children’s Hospital Critical Care Transport Team

Abstract: A highly trained critical care nursing and respiratory therapy team ensures continuity of care for complex neonatal and pediatric patients during transport to Brenner Children’s Hospital.

From Clinical Update, Winter 2006

Brenner Children’s Hospital Critical Care Transport Team assists physicians in the Northwest region in maintaining stabilization efforts begun by health care providers in the community. The team partners with these providers as an extension of the physicians at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center to optimize care for children and their families within neighboring communities.

“What began as a neonatal team in June of 1987 has developed into a combined neonatal-pediatric transport team over the last 19 years,” said Trish Harold, Transport Coordinator. “Registered nurses and registered respiratory therapists trained in critical care of the neonatal and pediatric patient receive extensive training to function as transport nurses and therapists. They receive monthly ongoing education, along with skills and simulation assessments to ensure continued expertise in the care of these complex patients.

“Brenner Children’s Hospital Critical Care Transport Team brings over 110 years of critical care nursing experience and over 125 years of critical care respiratory therapy experience to the Medical Center,” Harold said. “Many team members have more than 20 years of critical care experience individually.”

The team delivers care for patients from the first hours of life through school age and transports patients from the 20-county referral region of northwestern North Carolina, southern Virginia and western Tennessee directly to the intensive care nursery, pediatric intensive care unit, the inpatient pediatric floor or to the pediatric emergency department of Brenner Children’s Hospital.

Three modes of transportation are available for the transport of infants and children. Two ambulances, equipped as mobile critical care units, are available for immediate dispatch to referral hospitals. The Brenner team transports infants and children using Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center’s AirCare twin engine helicopter for those in need of rapid transit. Air transportation is also provided by our team in collaboration with MedCenter Air fixed wing service.

To arrange transport, contact the Brenner Children’s Hospital Transport Team through the Physician Access Line (PAL^®) at 1-800-277-7654. For more information, contact the Transport Coordinator at 336-713-6444 or through PAL.

The Brenner Children’s Hospital Transport Team provides many advanced therapies, including:

• intubation
• mechanical ventilation
• high frequency ventilation
• inhaled Nitric Oxide delivery
• surfactant administration
• needle decompression and chest tube placement
• central line placement with umbilical lines or external jugular
• cannulation
• arterial line placement and monitoring
• EKG monitoring and analysis