Related Experiment Videos
Medication use during neonatal and pediatric critical care transport
1Victoria Hospital, London, Ontario.
Insights
Pediatric transport teams frequently administer medications, with antibiotics, morphine, and anticonvulsants being most common. Medication use varies significantly by patient age, highlighting the need for diverse drug knowledge in critical care transport.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Critical Care
- Emergency Medicine
- Clinical Pharmacology
Background:
- Critically ill children require specialized transport services.
- The Pediatric Critical Care Unit (PCCU) offers a dedicated transport team.
- Understanding medication use during inter-facility transport is crucial for patient care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify medications administered by a pediatric critical care transport team.
- To determine age-related differences in medication administration during transport.
Main Methods:
- Prospective study of 174 patients transported by the PCCU team.
- Data collected on all drugs administered during stabilization and transport (Nov 1987 - Oct 1988).
- Analysis of medication classes and variations based on patient age (newborns, infants, children).
Main Results:
- 69.5% of patients received at least one medication.
- Most frequent medications: antibiotics (38.5%), morphine (27.0%), anticonvulsants (23.6%).
- Age-related differences observed: anticonvulsants in children, sedatives/respiratory drugs in infants, antibiotics/miscellaneous in newborns.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric critical care transport involves a wide range of medications.
- Medication patterns differ significantly across age groups (newborns, infants, children).
- Transport teams require broad pharmacological knowledge and access to diverse medications due to varied critical illnesses.
Abstract:
The Pediatric Critical Care Unit (PCCU) at the Children's Hospital of Western Ontario provides a transport service and team (critical care physician, critical care nurse, respiratory therapist) which transports critically ill newborns, infants, and children. The purpose of this study was to identify the medications used during transport and to determine age-related differences. Results of a prospective study of all drugs administered by the transport team to 174 patients during their stabilization and transport from November 1, 1987 through October 31, 1988 are presented. One hundred and twenty-one (69.5%) patients received at least one medication. The most frequently administered medications were antibiotics (38.5% of patients), followed by morphine (27.0%), anticonvulsants (23.6%), neuromuscular blockers (14.4%), respiratory drugs (11.5%), inotropes (10.9%), and sedatives (7.5%). Miscellaneous medications were administered to 48.8% of patients. The use of different classes of drugs varied with age; anticonvulsants were most frequently administered to children, sedatives and respiratory medications to infants, and antibiotics and miscellaneous medications to newborns. The wide range of medications used may reflect the diversity of diseases causing critical illness which reinforces that transport teams must have access to and knowledge of a variety of medications. The formulary of medications taken by the critical care transport team is included.