Emergency Transport Program
To arrange a transport, please call 1-800-590-2160 or 215-590-2160 from outside Children's Hospital or ext. 4-2160 within the Hospital.
About the program
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Emergency Transport Program delivers expert, specialized care and provides safe and efficient transport of critically ill or injured infants and children.
Scope of services
The team transports patients of all ages, from newborn through adolescence, with a wide variety of medical diagnoses such as respiratory, infectious, neurologic, congenital heart disease and traumatic injuries.
Children are transported to our PICU, NICU, CICU, Emergency Department and general inpatient units. While most transports are incoming patients to Children's Hospital, some are outgoing transports to other institutions, and a few are non-CHOP inter-facility transports. Our team performs ground and air (helicopter and fixed wing) transports.
Annual statistics
- The Children's Hospital transport team performs over 3,000 transports per year.
- The Transport Communications Center directs the incoming transport of more than 5,000 patients by non-CHOP teams per year.
- Communications Specialists receive nearly 18,000 emergency referral calls per year.
Staffing
The Transport Service operates 24 hours a day, with a minimum of two to three transport teams always scheduled. Each transport team includes at least one transport nurse and may also include a critical care paramedic, respiratory therapist, or other team members depending upon the patient's specific needs.
Nurses
The Pennsylvania Department of Health certifies the transport teams nurses as Pre-Hospital Registered Nurses (PHRN). The nurses are also certified in Pediatric Advanced Life Support, Advanced Cardiac Life Support, and Neonatal Resuscitation.
All PHRNs are highly skilled in managing critically ill neonates and children. They also have extensive experience working in emergency department, intensive care settings.
Critical care paramedics
The transport teams critical care paramedics are certified Paramedics by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and also Nationally Registered. The paramedics also certified in Pediatric Advanced Life Support, Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Neonatal Resuscitation, and Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support.
All paramedics are highly skilled in the pre-hospital management of critically ill and injured patients.
Physicians
A transport physician is available to accompany a transport team on selected transports. This physician may be an attending, fellow, senior pediatric resident.
Additional support staff
Respiratory therapists, and emergency or critical care nurses are also utilized as additional support members on our team.
Arrange a Transport
- 215-590-2160
- Contact Us Online
- Emergency Medicine
- Newborn/Infant Intensive Care Unit
- Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)
- Trauma Center