-Original-

Interfacility Neonatal Transport for Convalescent Care: Improving Regionalized Care

Yoshio Shima, Shohei Matsukawa, Kentaro Yashiro and Makoto Migita

Department of Neonatal Medicine, Nippon Medical School Musashi Kosugi Hospital, Kanagawa, Japan

Background: Transfer of infants who no longer need intensive or specialized care from tertiary to community hospitals or clinics contributes to efficient bed utilization in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records of all 1,503 infants admitted to our NICU during the 6-year period from April 2013 through March 2019 to evaluate the impact of interfacility neonatal transport for convalescent care.
Results: During the study period, our NICU accepted 33 infants from other tertiary NICUs and transferred 103 infants to other hospitals or clinics before their home discharge for convalescent care. Our NICU covered 39% of the total hospital days of infants accepted from other NICUs. Among infants transferred to other facilities, 81% born at our hospital were born to mothers transported to our obstetrics department as imminent high-risk deliveries; 94% of infants born at other hospitals were moved back to the referring facility.
Conclusions: Interfacility neonatal transport for accepting and transferring infants for convalescent care is now an integral part of NICU practice, to bridge gaps between higher-level care facilities and homes. Establishment of well-defined transfer criteria and appropriate allocation of medical and staff resources among relevant facilities are desirable.

J Nippon Med Sch 2020; 87: 334-338

Keywords
neonatal transport, regionalization, convalescent care

Correspondence to
Yoshio Shima, MD, Department of Neonatal Medicine, Nippon Medical School Musashi Kosugi Hospital, 1-396 Kosugi-cho, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 211-8533, Japan
shima-p@nms.ac.jp

Received, November 2, 2019
Accepted, February 9, 2020