Perspectives on non-emergent neonatal intensive care unit to pediatric intensive care unit care transfers in the United States

Table 1 Respondent demographics and transfer characteristics, n (%)

n = 81		Value
Role	Attending	81 (100)
Hospital type	Academic/University-Affiliated	68 (84)
	Teaching hospital/non-university	13 (16)
PICU type	Stand-alone PICU	54 (67)
	Mixed PICU/Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit	27 (33)
ACGME fellowship program	PICU	56 (69)
	NICU	68 (84)
Unit size (beds)	PICU, median (IQR)	24 (19, 32)
	NICU, median (IQR)	57 (40, 80)
Non-emergent transfer criteria	Ad hoc (no clinical criteria)	42 (52)
	Always initiated by set clinical criteria	8 (10)
	Combination of both	29 (36)
	Other	2 (2)
Clinical criteria used in non-emergent transfer (n = 37)	Postnatal or corrected age	29 (78)
	Size (weight) of patient	11 (29)
	Specific medical diagnoses	19 (51)
	Need for specific medication	3 (9)
	Other	9 (24)
Protocol to facilitate non-emergent transfer	No	49 (61)
	Yes	27 (33)
	Unsure	5 (6)
Components of transfer process	Bedside nurse handoff	72 (89)
	Charge nurse handoff	39 (48)
	Frontline clinician handoff	60 (74)
	Attending to Attending handoff	70 (86)
	Other handoff1	4 (5)
	Pre-transfer multidisciplinary care team meetings	34 (42)
	Post-transfer bedside huddle	10 (13)
	Post-transfer multidisciplinary care team meetings	16 (20)
	Pre- and/or post-transfer checklists	4 (5)
	Other component2	11 (14)
	None	4 (5)

¹Other handoff: Fellow-to-Fellow (n = 1), Social worker (n = 1), Medical director-to-Medical director (n = 1), Nursing leadership (n = 1).

²Other component: Parental tour of the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) (n = 6), PICU attendance on neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) rounds (n = 1), PICU nurses shadowing in the NICU (n = 1), Regular joint NICU-PICU meetings about patients (n = 1), Interdepartmental emails describing patients (n = 1), Transfer Center Activation (n = 1). ACGME: Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education; IQR: Interquartile Range.