The Importance of a Transport Medicine Rotation for a Pediatric Critical Care Fellowship

Abstract

Background: Pediatric critical care medicine (PCCM) fellowship programs must meet established educational standards; however, interfacility transport opportunities vary across sites.

Objective: To query key stakeholders, is the interfacility transport medicine rotation still an important component of the PCCM fellowship?

Methods: A multi-methods questionnaire was sent to a convenience sample (n = 66) of key stakeholders, including attending physicians, PCCM fellows, and transport team members, from a single site. An 80% response rate resulted in a total of 53 participants. Quantitative items used a Likert-scale and forced ranking response options. Qualitative responses were obtained regarding challenges and barriers during the rotation and to discern attributes of a successful fellow on transport.

Results: The transport rotation was rated as important by 92% of the respondents (n = 53). Identified challenges included autonomy, decision-making, and teamwork. All stakeholder groups similarly ranked medical control principles as the most important. Fellows ranked flight physiology as highly important, whereas attending physicians and transport team members ranked medical protocols as highly important.

Conclusion: A transport medicine rotation during PCCM fellowship is important and highly valued by key stakeholders. Differences in perceptions exist regarding topics of importance and qualities of a successful provider performing medical transport across the stakeholder groups.