Transporting critically ill children

Abstract The centralization of paediatric critical care services in most developed countries has seen an increase in the need for critically unwell and traumatically injured children to be transported for definitive care. This, in combination with the rising demand for paediatric critical care beds, has driven the development of stand-alone paediatric critical care retrieval teams, often sharing the skills and knowledge of medical and nursing staff from multiple paediatric intensive care units. Anaesthetists may be required to assist with, or lead the resuscitation and stabilization and occasionally undertake the transfer of the critically unwell or injured child. Preparation for paediatric retrieval is performed by teams in referring hospitals and knowledge of retrieval processes, and local organization can ease the referral process. We consider the approach to the child who will require transfer to a paediatric critical care unit.