Family-centered care in pediatric critical care transport

Family-centered care (FCC) in medicine highlights mutually beneficial partnerships among providers, patients, and families. In the field of specialty pediatric critical care transport (SPCCT), FCC includes family presence during transport. We sought to describe family presence and family/staff perspectives of FCC in transport.

This institutional review board-approved study established family presence rates among 5 SPCCT teams. At the top-performing family presence team, parents of transported children were interviewed. A staff survey measured perspectives on FCC using SurveyMonkey (Palo Alto, CA). Statistical tests including chi-square and Fisher exact tests for comparative data were applied using SPSSv17.0 software (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL).

The cohort-wide range of family presence was 23% to 66%. Parents were 4 times more likely to accompany their child if transported by ground versus air (ground: 26 [59%] vs. air: 6 [26%]). Sex, race, travel distance from referral hospital, and child's age did not influence the rate of family accompaniment. Most staff (76%) received education on FCC.

This study informs how transport factors and parent/staff perceptions influence parental presence on transport at a single center. Opportunities to optimize transport FCC include defining protocols for ground and air transport, establishing a more welcoming attitude toward parents, and designing an FCC educational module specific for transport staff.