• Atsushi Kawaguchi, Charlene C Nielsen, L Duncan Saunders, Yutaka Yasui, and Allan de Caen.
• Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, University of Alberta, Canada; School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Canada. Electronic address: atsushi@ualberta.ca.
• J Crit Care. 2018 Jun 1; 45: 209-214.

PurposeTo explore the impact of a physician non-accompanying pediatric critical care transport program, and to identify factors associated with the selection of specific transport team compositions.Materials And MethodsChildren transported to a Canadian academic children's hospital were included. Two eras (Physician-accompanying Transport (PT)-era: 2000-07 when physicians commonly accompanied the transport team; and Physician-Less Transport (PLT)-era: 2010-15 when a physician non-accompanying team was increasingly used) were compared with respect to transport and PICU outcomes. Transport and patient characteristics for the PLT-era cohort were examined to identify factors associated with the selection of a physician accompanying team, with multivariable logistic regression with triage physicians as random effects.ResultsIn the PLT-era (N=1177), compared to the PT-era (N=1490) the probability of PICU admission was significantly lower, and patient outcomes including mortality were not significantly different. Associations were noted between the selection of a physician non-accompanying team and specific transport characteristics. There was appreciable variability among the triage physicians for the selection of a physician non-accompanying team.ConclusionsNo significant differences were observed with increasing use of a physician non-accompanying team. Selection of transport team compositions was influenced by clinical and system factors, but appreciable variation still remained among triage physicians.Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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