OVERVIEW

Because of the nature of their employment, nurses, physicians, respiratory therapists, and technicians with pediatric critical care interfacility trans­port teams (CCITTs) may have little involvement or integration (coopera­tive training or practice) with the local emergency medical services (EMS) system, although to the public eye, they often are considered components of the same emergency transport system.

If one takes a closer look at both disciplines, the similarities in the way they provide care are striking. The CCITT performs telephone triage and evaluation and management of the patient, which, in many ways, is the interfacility transport version of 911. If the decision to accept the transfer is made, the CCITT is dispatched and, on arrival at the referring hospital (or on scene for EMS), performs on-site triage and evaluation, management, and stabilization of the patient's condition. It then is the responsibility of the CCITT, like EMS, to successfully transport the patient to the receiving facility while continuing ongoing efforts at stabilization.

There are also differences between CCITTs and EMS. For example, in most cases, patients referred to the CCITT have been triaged, assessed, and often treated by advanced medical providers, usually physicians. This is rarely the case when EMS is involved. EMS providers are often the first and only responders on scene, and, depending on the availability of online medical direction, they provide the highest level of care the patient is likely to receive before hospital arrival.