Improving the transfer of critically ill children to our hospital #JustDoIt

Problem Nottingham Paediatric Critical Care Unit Retrieval service transfer critically ill children from other regional hospitals and occasionally out of region into the PCCU at Nottingham’s Children’s Hospital. There is limited space in the ambulance due to the team and equipment

Impact Parents who are already facing a very stressful situation have to navigate a hospital in a city with which they may be totally unfamiliar. Limited space means parents are unable to travel with their child and it is impractical for the team to carry hard copies of all the clinical guidelines and equipment manuals

Idea The team wished to purchase a Sat Nav which would have the hospital’s details saved on it. This would be given to the parents so that they could easily find the quickest route to the hospital. The purchase of an iPad also opened the opportunity for the team to have access to clinical guidelines, drug information and equipment manuals whilst on the move.

Benefits Parents can now easily find their way to the Children’s Hospital and clinicians have timely access to clinical guidelines, equipment manuals and drug information which would otherwise be unavailable due to space restrictions.

Abigail Hill, Retrieval Coordinator, Paediatric Critical Care Retrieval Team