[Standards for the interhospital transport of sick neonates]

The transport of ill neonates between hospitals and/or health care centres, plays an important role in the mortality rate of these seriously ill neonates. It is therefore important that the ill neonate is transported under optimal conditions. A lack of standards in this regard hampers the evaluation of the quality of inter hospital transport of ill neonates. The purpose of this study is to formulate valid standards for the transport of seriously ill neonates between hospitals (and/or other health care institutions) to form the basis for the evaluation of the quality of this service. Factors that need to be considered in the transport of ill neonates include the ambulance, equipment and stock, the transport personnel and communication. These factors were systematically explored and described and standards were formulated accordingly.