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Investigation of the status of interhospital transport of critically ill pediatric patients

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Abstract

Background

With the unequal distribution of medical resources in developing countries, critically ill children need to be transferred to tertiary hospitals from primary hospitals with limited resources. Although a large number of critically ill children are transferred each day in China, the standard process of inter-hospital transport is not formulated.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed the data collected during transport. A total number of 9231 patients (≤14 years) who had been transferred to the Hunan Children’s Hospital by a specialized team from primary hospitals from January 1, 2009 to June 30, 2012 were included in the study.

Results

Nearly half of the critically ill children were neonates (48.72%) and two thirds of the children were suffering from respiratory, neurological and cardiac diseases. Multivariate adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using unconditional logistic regression. Mobilization time in non-working hours was longer than the working hours (OR=1.186, 95% CI=1.059–1.329). Our study showed that mobilization time for neonates was shorter than that for older children (OR=0.801, 95% CI=0.692–0.928). The mobilization time of referral cases was shorter in areas within a radius of 50 km than in those within a radius of over 250 km (OR=0.427, 95% CI=0.350–0.521). Referred patients in summer needed a significantly shorter mobilization time than in winter (OR=0.705, 95% CI=0.616–0.806).

Conclusion

Standardized processes and guidelines for inter-hospital transport would be essential to ensure effective transport of patients and reduce the mobilization activation time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Children’s Intensive Research Center, Hunan Children’s Hospital, Changsha, 410007, China

    Jun Qiu, Zheng-Hui Xiao, Xian Hu, Xue-Li Quan & Yi-Min Zhu

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maternal And Child Health Hospital Of Hunan Province, Changsha, 410007, China

    Xiao-Li Wu

Authors
  1. Jun Qiu
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  2. Xiao-Li Wu
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  3. Zheng-Hui Xiao
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  4. Xian Hu
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  5. Xue-Li Quan
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  6. Yi-Min Zhu
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Correspondence to Yi-Min Zhu.

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Qiu, J., Wu, XL., Xiao, ZH. et al. Investigation of the status of interhospital transport of critically ill pediatric patients. World J Pediatr 11, 67–73 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12519-015-0004-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12519-015-0004-8

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