Critical Issues Underpinning the Safe Transfer of Ill Neonates: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Introduction Critically ill neonates often require urgent transport to a neonatal care facility shortly after birth. The safe transfer of ill neonates is a critical part of their continuum of care. Methods A review of the empirical work and literature around the safe transfer of ill neonates was undertaken to explore what factors influence a safe transfer. Results What emerged was that a multitude of adverse events influence the clinical deterioration of the neonate, including the physiological condition of the neonate, equipment-related challenges and the unpreparedness of those involved to deal with neonatal clinical emergencies. Conclusion This review highlights the necessary equipment required, the nature of clinical emergencies that may arise, and the need to consider utilising specialised neonatal transfer units to effect the safe transfer of the critically ill neonate.

Developing a South African curriculum for education in neonatal critical care retrieval: An initial exploration

“…The physiological stressors experienced by the neonate during transport may lead to clinical deterioration or instability, making transfer inherently high risk in nature [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. A lack of specialised equipment [2,5,6,8,[10][11][12] and time delays for transfer and stabilisation [2,6,[9][10][11][13][14][15] have all been associated with an increased incidence of adverse events. Similarly, the level of education and training of the transferring provider has been shown to be one of the biggest predictors of adverse events and eventual patient outcome [2, 5-11, 13, 14].…”