Pediatric and neonatal transport in Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

OBJECTIVE

To study the organization of inter-hospital transport of pediatric and neonatal patients in Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

DESIGN

An observational study was performed. An on-line survey was sent by email including questions about characteristics of national, regional and local health transport systems, vehicles, material, and composition of the transport team and their training.

SETTING

Hospital pediatric healthcare professionals treating children in Spain, Portugal and Latin America RESULTS: A total of 117 surveys from 15 countries were analyzed. Of them, 55 (47%) come from 15 regions of Spain and the rest from Portugal and 13 Latin American countries. The inter-hospital transport of pediatric patients is unified only in the Spanish regions of Baleares and Cataluña and in Portugal. Chile has a mixed unified transport system for pediatric and adult patients. Only 51.4% of responders have an educational program for the transport personnel, and only in 36.4% of them the educational program is specific for pediatric patients. In Spain and Portugal the transport is executed mostly by public entities, while in Latin America public and private systems coexist. Specific pediatric equipment is more frequent in the transport teams in the Iberian Peninsula than in Latin American teams. The specific pediatric transport training is less frequent for teams in Latin America than on Spain and Portugal.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a great variation in the organization of children transport in each country and region. Most of countries and cities do not have unified and specific teams of pediatric transport, with pediatric qualified personnel and specific material.