Critical Care Transport

• Published in: Current emergency and hospital medicine reports Vol. 12; no. 3; pp. 103 - 108
• Main Authors: Dahlstrom, Elijah, Lenz, Tim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.09.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Cost control; Critical care; Decision making; Emergency Medicine; Evacuations & rescues; Helicopters; Mass casualty incidents; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Patients; Review; Teams; Topical Collection on Critical Care and Resuscitation; Trauma; Vital signs; United States > US; Wisconsin; HEMS utilization; Specialized transport teams; Interfacility transfers; Critical care transport
• ISSN: 2167-4884; 2167-4884
• DOI: 10.1007/s40138-024-00298-3

Purpose of Review Critical care transport is a special form of EMS transportation utilizing highly specialized clinicians to transport critically ill patients. This review aims to investigate and highlight the nuances of critical care transport, and to discuss new revelations within critical care transport for clinicians less familiar with these transport modalities. Recent Findings Improvements have been found in the care and transport of pediatric patients through checklists for ventilator management, using sedatives and paralytics for intubation improves first-pass success, and telemedicine shows promise in pediatric transport. Point-of-care testing in transport enables nuanced adjustments in patient care. Summary An understanding of the makeup and capabilities of critical care transport teams enables better utilization of these services and improves patient care throughout the healthcare system.