Improving Situational Awareness During Interfacility Transport Using a Transport Monitoring and Communication...

To evaluate the impact of using a simulated teletransport application compared with ad hoc phone calls between medical control physicians (MCP) and transport teams on situational awareness and communication during neonatal interfacility transports.

In this pilot study, MCPs and pediatric critical care transport teams (PCCT) participated in simulated neonatal transports with or without a simulated transport monitoring and communication (T-MAC) application. Situational awareness (perception, the recognition of the patient's status; comprehension, the understanding of the significance of patient's status; and projection, anticipation of what the patient's status will likely become) and the overall duration of communication was measured and compared between and within groups.

Thirty-three subjects (20 MCP, 13 PCCT) participated in 52 simulations. MCPs had higher overall situational awareness scores with use of the T-MAC app compared with ad hoc phone calls with increased mean perception (98%, T-MAC versus 79%, no T-MAC, P = 0.003) and projection (53%, T-MAC versus 40%, no T-MAC, P = 0.004) scores before a patient event (sudden adverse change to patient status); and increased perception (83%, T-MAC versus 64%, no T-MAC, P = 0.03); comprehension (68%, T-MAC versus 48%, no T-MAC, P = 0.04); and projection (58%, T-MAC versus 30%, no T-MAC, P = 0001) scores after the event. PCCTs had higher mean perception (98%, T-MAC versus 81%, no T-MAC, P = 0.02) and projection (54%, T-MAC versus 45% no T-MAC) scores before the event. The median duration of call times decreased for adverse events (125, IQR: 45s, T-MAC versus 140, IQR: 70s, no T-MAC, P = 0.046).

In this simulated setting, the use of a specially designed teletransport app for neonatal interfacility transports improved situational awareness and increased the efficiency of communication for transport team stakeholders. There was greater benefit in improving situational awareness for the MCPs than for PCCT members. The development and use of a T-MAC application warrants further investigation.