Paediatric And Neonatal Critical Care Transport

Increasingly the need is recognized for safe and effective care of children being transferred for specialist services. Whether a premature baby or a critically ill child is being transported, specialist skills and knowledge are required.

This book, based on a highly popular course from the University Hospitals of Leicester, covers the processes involved in transporting sick children and neonates. The book is also the coursebook for NEOSTAR, which will be run by the Advanced Life Support Group. Major sections cover:
Planning transport programmes
The clinical management of different groups of critically ill infants and children.

This tried and tested, practical guide is ideal for doctors, nurses and other health care workers that are involved with organizing transport services or who may be care for babies and children during transfer.

Chapters include:
Principles of safe transport
Transport physiology
The ambulance environment
Equipment and monitoring
Air transport of critically ill children
Neonatal resuscitation and stabilization
Paediatric resuscitation and stabilization
Management of airway and breathing
Management of the circulation
Trauma
Special transport interventions
What to do when it all goes wrong
Drugs

Sick babies and children are moved between hospitals for many reasons, often to receive specialist care and treatment not available locally. For the transfer to be safe and effective it is necessary to plan carefully for these occasions, and for the doctors and nurses attending the transport to be able to provide intensive care on the move.
The book provides guidance in both of these major areas. The first section - 'Planning for Safe and Effective Transport' - details issues to be considered by senior staff in setting-up or modernising a transport programme. General principles and relevant physiology are outlined, and vehicles and equipment are discussed in depth. The second section - 'Practical Transport Management' - is concerned with different patient groups and key clinical issues. These include the distinctive features of neonatal and paediatric patients, and management of airway, breathing and circulation. Other chapters discuss airborne transport, pharmacology, trauma, and special interventions for transport such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and inhaled nitric oxide.