Outcomes After Transfer of Pediatric Trauma Patients: Does Everyone Need to Visit the Trauma Bay?

Critically injured children and teens often present to adult trauma centers or nontrauma facilities prior to transfer to a pediatric trauma center. For pediatric patients wanting transfer to the intensive care unit (ICU), there is little data to guide which can be safely transferred directly to the unit, and which should be evaluated first in the trauma bay.We used our institutional trauma registry to evaluate transferred trauma patients over a three year period. We compared time to imaging, time to operating room, and overall mortality between the group evaluated first in the emergency room and those transferred directly to the ICU.When adjusted for other variables, there was no increased mortality in those transferred directly to the ICU. While there was a higher nonadjusted mortality in those transferred to the ICU (13% versus 3.7%), these nonsurvivors had a lower GCS (3 versus 13), higher Pediatric Risk of Mortality scores, and a high rate of severe head trauma. There was no significant delay in ordered imaging or procedures.In patients, who have been assessed at another institution prior to transfer to the pediatric ICU, transfer directly to the ICU, bypassing the emergency department, does not delay interventions and does not appear to worsen outcomes.