• Susan R Wilcox, Randy S Wax, Michael T Meyer, Jacqueline C Stocking, Amado Alejandro Baez, Jason Cohen, M Michele Moss, Michael A Frakes, Elizabeth A Scruth, William B Weir, David Zonies, Francis X Guyette, Lewis J Kaplan, and Jeremy W Cannon.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.
• Crit. Care Med. 2022 Oct 1; 50 (10): 146114761461-1476.

ObjectivesTo assess recent advances in interfacility critical care transport.Data SourcesPubMed English language publications plus chapters and professional organization publications.Study SelectionManuscripts including practice manuals and standard (1990-2021) focused on interfacility transport of critically ill patients.Data ExtractionReview of society guidelines, legislative requirements, objective measures of outcomes, and transport practice standards occurred in work groups assessing definitions and foundations of interfacility transport, transport team composition, and transport specific considerations. Qualitative analysis was performed to characterize current science regarding interfacility transport.Data SynthesisThe Task Force conducted an integrative review of 496 manuscripts combined with 120 from the authors' collections including nonpeer reviewed publications. After title and abstract screening, 40 underwent full-text review, of which 21 remained for qualitative synthesis.ConclusionsSince 2004, there have been numerous advances in critical care interfacility transport. Clinical deterioration may be mitigated by appropriate patient selection, pretransport optimization, and transport by a well-resourced team and vehicle. There remains a dearth of high-quality controlled studies, but notable advances in monitoring, en route management, transport modality (air vs ground), as well as team composition and training serve as foundations for future inquiry. Guidance from professional organizations remains uncoupled from enforceable regulations, impeding standardization of transport program quality assessment and verification.Copyright © 2022 by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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