Handover and transport of critically ill children: An integrative review.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The handover and transport of critically ill pediatric patients requires communication amongst multiple disciplines. Poor communication is a leading cause of sentinel events and human factors affect handover and transport. OBJECTIVES: To synthesize published data on pediatric handover and transport and identify gaps to provide direction for future investigation. METHODS: Integrative literature review. RESULTS: Forty research studies were reviewed and revealed the following themes risk for patient complications, standardized communication, and specialized teams and teamwork were associated with improved outcomes. No articles were identified regarding transportation of critically ill pediatric patients from the emergency room to the intensive care unit. There was a knowledge gap in best practices in handover and transport within the unique subsets of the pediatric population including neonate, toddler, school-aged, and adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: Research supported a combined approach of specialized teams using standardized communication in the handover and transport of the pediatric patient to improve outcomes. Further study is warranted on interprofessional (team to team) handover practices, select subsets of the pediatric population, and the handover and transport of critically ill patients from the emergency room to the intensive care unit.