Guest Editorial

Article Outline

• Copyright

I am thrilled to have been given the opportunity to serve as the guest editor for this edition of Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews. The idea for focusing on neonatal transport stems from my own professional experiences. Most of my neonatal career has occurred within a children's hospital in which no birthing facility has been attached. Therefore, I have seen many infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit by way of transport.

Transport of a high-risk, critically ill infant requires skilled personnel, highly technical equipment, safe care and treatment, consistent team communication and collaboration, and continual family support. With all of these details to consider, the transport of a neonate to a higher level of care can certainly generate a variety of issues. As you will see, this edition of Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews touches on some of those issues.

In the first article, Bridget Cross and Diana Wilson discuss the education and performance evaluation standards for transport teams. They propose that although transport systems and compositions have yet to be standardized, simulation-based training may be a promising approach. They suggest that simulation-based training, particularly high-fidelity simulation, is one way to assure that transport team members obtain the skills required to assess and manage neonatal patients during the transport process.

Cindy Killion and Dr. Howard Stein present a study that compares their transport times of traveling by both air ambulance and ground ambulance. Their article stresses the importance of keeping safety a main priority during a neonatal transport. They suggest that although air transport may be faster, it is actually more dangerous and has no significant impact on neonatal outcomes.

In her article, Kathy Duritza addresses the development of regionalized care and neonatal referral centers in an attempt to provide better care for both high-risk infants and their families. Kathy's article is written with much compassion as she also describes one unit's experience of developing and implementing a family support module surrounding neonatal transport in collaboration with the March of Dimes. This article takes into account that the infant may not be the only family member affected by the situation.

In the final article, Peter Brust, Marjorie Hamburger, and Patricia Larkin review the pathophysiology, assessment, diagnosis, stabilization, and management of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn. They emphasize the importance of proper recognition of the persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn and advocate for the use of inhaled nitric oxide on transport. They provide a comprehensive overview of the disease and describe various treatment options, including prompt transport with inhaled nitric oxide, for optimizing neonatal outcomes.

As you can see from this assortment of articles, transport of a neonate can be examined and discussed from a variety of angles. The key to a successful neonatal transport is to optimize all aspects of care so that the infant, the family, and the staff can all gain some benefit.