Publication Date

Spring 2015

Degree Type

Doctoral Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Department

Nursing

First Advisor

Colleen O’Leary-Kelley, Chair

Second Advisor

Patrick Van Winkle

Third Advisor

Shareemae A. Salvador

Keywords

Inter-hospital transfer, pediatric, admission, transport

Abstract

Pediatric patients who initially present to a community hospital setting can be adequately cared for the majority of the time, in the emergency department (ED), on the pediatric ward (PEDS), and the post anesthesia care unit (PACU). When a pediatric patient is in need of specialized care or is decompensating and becomes critically ill, initial medical stabilization is required and the identification of a critical care bed and admitting physician are needed in a timely manner. Inter-hospital transfers (IHT) of pediatric patients are frequent occurrences, as more and more areas are consolidating their resources and Pediatric Intensive Care beds are becoming regionalized. When an IHT becomes necessary, there is a period of patient stabilization and transitional care that is required, before the critical care transport team arrives. This study will add to the scarce amount of literature on areas and opportunities for quality improvement and outcome analysis of pediatric patients transferred from a community hospital ED, PEDS or PACU without pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) resources.

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