Problems in interhospital pediatric intensive care transport in The Netherlands: results from a survey of general pediatricians

Objective. Interhospital pediatric intensive care transport accompanied by non-trained specialists usually occurs with inadequate equipment and has been associated with high incidence of complications. These facts have serious consequences for patients but also can be very disconcerting for specialists. This survey was undertaken to gain insight into the problems encountered in organizing pediatric intensive care transport in The Netherlands to measure the specialist's satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs in the organization of such transports, and additional workload and feelings of insecurity experienced during self-organized transports. Design. Survey, retrospective. Setting. A postal questionnaire sent to all pediatricians of community hospitals in The Netherlands. Methods. Results of direct questioning are given as discrete frequencies. After factor and reliability analysis 5-point Likert scale items are summed up in scale constructions. Relationships between scales are examined in regression analysis. Results. Pediatricians appear to be satisfied with current specialist retrieval teams if these teams are available in their region, and highly dissatisfied if not available. Many nontrained specialists consider these transports burdening tasks with a high workload, and they feel insecure during these transports, especially if they report lack of knowledge of the transport equipment. Conclusions. The need for pediatric specialist retrieval teams in The Netherlands is seen not only in the insufficient level of care delivered by accompanying nontrained specialists and the reported high incidence of complications as shown in the literature but also in the dissatisfaction and high stress of these specialists.