A Multicenter Survey of Pediatric-Neonatal Transport Teams in the United States to Assess the Impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic on Staffing

Objective The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented burnout in frontline health care providers. However, the impact of the pandemic on interfacility pediatric and neonatal transport team members has not been studied. The current study uses a survey design to document the impact of the pandemic on pediatric and neonatal transport team members with a focus on staffing and resilience promotion strategies. Methods Data for this study came from a short cross-sectional survey distributed to members of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Transport Medicine. Results Sixty-six teams responded (around 45%). Forty-one respondents (62%) reported vacancies on their transport teams, with 35 (53.8%) reporting more vacancies during the pandemic. Forty percent of highly trained registered nurses and respiratory therapists from specialty teams left their positions for those with better compensation during the pandemic. Forty-two percent of respondents were not trained to recognize burnout, stress, or compassion fatigue. Conclusion Our study shows that half of the respondents had more vacancies during the pandemic than in previous years and reported difficulty in filling those positions. We were unable to link the vacancies to the pandemic and burnout because hospitalizations and transports in the pediatric facilities decreased during the pandemic;however, we do report that coronavirus disease 2019 exposure before the vaccine was a source of stress for team members. There are opportunities to improve the identification of burnout and to foster resilience and boost retention of this highly skilled niche workforce.

A Multicenter Survey of Pediatric-Neonatal Transport Teams in the United States to Assess the Impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic on Staffing.

OBJECTIVE: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented burnout in frontline health care providers. However, the impact of the pandemic on interfacility pediatric and neonatal transport team members has not been studied. The current study uses a survey design to document the impact of the pandemic on pediatric and neonatal transport team members with a focus on staffing and resilience promotion strategies. METHODS: Data for this study came from a short cross-sectional survey distributed to members of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Transport Medicine. RESULTS: Sixty-six teams responded (around 45%). Forty-one respondents (62%) reported vacancies on their transport teams, with 35 (53.8%) reporting more vacancies during the pandemic. Forty percent of highly trained registered nurses and respiratory therapists from specialty teams left their positions for those with better compensation during the pandemic. Forty-two percent of respondents were not trained to recognize burnout, stress, or compassion fatigue. CONCLUSION: Our study shows that half of the respondents had more vacancies during the pandemic than in previous years and reported difficulty in filling those positions. We were unable to link the vacancies to the pandemic and burnout because hospitalizations and transports in the pediatric facilities decreased during the pandemic; however, we do report that coronavirus disease 2019 exposure before the vaccine was a source of stress for team members. There are opportunities to improve the identification of burnout and to foster resilience and boost retention of this highly skilled niche workforce.

Integration of aeromedicine in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is limited guidance on the use of helicopter medical personnel to facilitate care of critically ill COVID-19 patients. This manuscript describes the emergence of this novel virus, its mode of transmission, and the potential impacts on patient care in the unique environment of rotor wing aircraft. It details the development of clinical and operational guidelines for flight crew members. This allows other out-of-hospital clinicians to utilize our framework to augment or supplement their own for the current response effort to COVID-19. It further serves as a road map for future response to the care of high consequence infectious disease patients.

PATTERNS OF PEDIATRIC CRITICAL CARE TRANSPORT AND INJURY DURING THE CORONAVIRUS-19 PANDEMIC

Patients presenting with injuries resulting in critical care transport were grouped and compared to other transports using chi-square test. B Results: b Four hundred ninety-five patients over the age of 10y were transported by the pediatric critical care transport team during the period observed, of these 230 were transported in the period between 3/2020-6/2021, compared to 265 total in previous years. B Methods: b A 4-year database of pediatric critical care transport records of patients over the age of 10 was compared between the 3/2018-20 and 3/2020-6/2021 with the latter representing the time frame in which coronavirus-19 restrictions were most present. [Extracted from the article] Copyright of Critical Care Medicine is the property of Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)