Effect of Specialized Critical Care Transport Unit on Short-Term Mortality of Critically Ill Patients Undergoing Interhospital Transport

AbstractObjectiveTo minimize risk and prevent harmful incidents during interhospital transport, the critical care transport unit service called Seoul Mobile Intensive Care Unit (SMICU) was organized and initiated its service within the city of Seoul. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of critical care transport units on outcomes of critically ill patients undergoing interhospital transport in SeoulMethodsA retrospective observational case–control study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of critical care transport units on outcomes of critically ill patients undergoing interhospital transport. ED patients transported from other hospitals in Seoul during 2016 were identified in the National Emergency Department Information System (NEDIS) and according to use of SMICU. One-to-one propensity matching was performed to balance covariates between groups. The association of SMICU transport on survival outcome was calculated in a multivariable logistic regression model.ResultsAmong 42,188 ED patients ...