At one point in time, a child may be admitted into a general or adult hospital under critical conditions. Children are not small adults – not only do they need a certain type of specialty care, but their experiences in and out of the hospital can have life-long effects. When the need for that specialty care arises, they may be transported to a children’s hospital that is equipped to care for young patients in possibly life-threatening conditions. The type of care a child receives on their transport journey, however, can be a matter of life and death.

At Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach, transport is more than just a journey – it’s a specialty. The Transport Program at Miller Children’s is a comprehensive multi-specialty program that brings more than 1,200 children and expectant mothers from surrounding hospitals into its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and high-risk maternity program each year.

The Transport Program care team is made up of registered nurses, respiratory therapists, anesthesiologists, perinatologists and more specialists that are cross-trained to provide neonatal and pediatric care – most ambulance EMTs are not required to have any pediatric or prenatal training whatsoever.

“The Transport Program is great for patients that need specialized care many hospitals aren’t able to provide,” explains Rachel Sriwarodom, RN, BSN, Transport Program, Miller Children’s. “We provide the same level of care in the transport ambulance that’s offered at Miller Children’s.”

The process is always initiated with a call. “When a patient needs to be transported to Miller Children’s, we receive a call from the referring hospital who discusses with one of our transport-dedicated physicians the patient’s basic details, vital signs and diagnosis,” explains Sriwarodom. “The transport team then forms a huddle and the physician fills us in on details, letting us know if there are further medications or monitoring that needs to be done on our part.”

The team, who is on-call and available for transport 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, gathers their emergency materials and heads out. When arriving at the outside hospital, the team meets with the patient’s care team to discuss key details in the child’s care. Then, the team meets the patient and family.

“On the transport team, we’re involved in these situations often,” says Sriwarodom. “We’ve become experts at giving emergency care and we’re very calm in emergency situations. Although it’s great to be as prepared as we are, it’s also important to remember that there’s a child or an expected mother on the other end that is scared and doesn’t understand what’s going on – and a family that feels the same way.”

The entire transport team, from the nurse to the ambulance driver, introduces themselves to the patient and family, explains their role in the child’s or mother’s care, what to expect on transport and answers any questions before departure. In addition to listening to any concerns, the team provides guidebooks specifically for transport families with important information about the transport process and programs provided at Miller Children’s.

“Parents feel much calmer once they sense that they are part of the team,” says Sriwarodom. “We value their opinion because nobody knows their loved one better than they do. We focus heavily on family centered care on our transport.”

For pediatric patients, it’s not always easy. “It’s important to remember where a child is at developmentally,” explains Sriwarodom. “Teenagers value their privacy, and school-aged children like to be involved in the decision-making to feel like they have some control. You have to keep the patient in mind – you can’t provide the same type of care to a teen that you do to a toddler.”

Once at the hospital, patients and their family are escorted to an intensive care unit and introduced to their new care teams – the transport journey is over.

The Transport Program has an impact not only on patients, but on care team members. “I feel proud. I’m always excited to say that I’m part of the Transport team,” says Sriwarodom. “By providing specialty pediatric emergency care, we’re able to start life-saving medical interventions sooner. It can really be a matter of life and death – because in emergency situations, time is of the essence.”