Anaesthesia | Transfer | Equipment and monitoring for patient transfer

Equipment and monitoring for patient transfer
Session Overview
Description
This session looks at the specialist equipment and monitoring used to help facilitate the safe transfer of critically ill patients.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Explain the principles of monitoring under transport conditions
• Describe the equipment required to facilitate intra-hospital and inter-hospital transfer of the critically ill patient

Prerequisites
Before commencing this session you should complete:

• Module 03/Transfer Medicine/Transfer of critically ill patient/Principles of safe transfer of patients (001-0366)
• Module 03/Transfer Medicine/Transfer of critically ill patient/Patient physiology under transport conditions (001-1600)

During the transfer of the critically ill patient from one area to another, it is crucial to achieve the same level of observation as would be provided within the intensive care environment. Transport equipment must be:

• Fit for purpose
• Sufficiently robust to withstand the transport environment
• Capable of meeting the demands of intensive care monitoring

All staff involved in the transport of the critically ill patient should have comprehensive competency-based training in the use of transport equipment. Annual updates for transport teams should include:

• Equipment training
• Renewal of competency checks

It is vital that the training of transport teams should facilitate the ability to troubleshoot equipment and monitoring problems during a transport episode.