Analysis of the retrieval times of a centralised transport service, New South Wales, Australia.

Abstract

To examine the transport times of immediate and emergency retrievals for neonatal and paediatric patients retrieved by ground and air from general hospitals to tertiary centres. We conducted a database review of the records of 17 011 requests for retrieval to a centralised transport service in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, Australia from 2000 to 2006. Immediate and emergency retrievals included 4575 (43.7%) neonatal and 5887 (56.3%) paediatric retrievals. The median stabilisation time was 97 min for neonatal compared with 50 min for paediatric retrievals. Neonatal retrievals had a significantly longer stabilisation time (approx x2), handover time (approx x1.2) and mission time (approx x1.3) compared to paediatric retrievals. Establishing reference times for the transport process is a valuable quality assurance tool. Such data will be valuable for staff and budgeting purposes and for evaluating new interventions that reduce retrieval times.