High-Risk Pediatric Mental Health Transports—Improving Barriers to Getting Help: A Standardized Approach to High-Risk Pediatric Mental Health Transports

Abstract

The Children's Mercy Hospital Critical Care Transport (CMCCT) team provides care to a sizable portion of the Midwest United States. CMCCT has seen an increased frequency of pediatric mental health transport requests for patients who are aggressive or at risk of becoming aggressive during interfacility transport. These transport requests often involve long distances and require a medical flight to accomplish safely. CMCCT's multidisciplinary approach and process focus on crew and patient safety to provide compassionate and dignified care, ensuring that this very vulnerable patient population arrives safely at their mental health care institution. This paper describes our patient population, policy, systemic process, and barriers to completing the transport.