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Rural paediatric interfacility transfers: US picture
Pediatric Rural Interfacility Transfers by Emergency Medical Services
Prehospital Emergency Care · 2026-10-06 · Added 7 October 2026
Analysis of 29,992 rural US paediatric interfacility transfers in 2023 found clear age gradients — infants needed specialty critical-care transport most often (32.1%), while teenagers predominated in psychiatric presentations and received more pain and sedation medications.
- Study type
- Registry
- Design
- Retrospective national EMS registry analysis
- Participants
- 29,992 rural paediatric interfacility transfers (2023)
- Main finding
- 79.4% ground transport; advanced life support units in 62.7%; infants had the highest specialty critical-care transport proportion (32.1%) and longest intervals; teenagers most often psychiatric/behavioural
- Caveat
- US single-year registry data; transfer models and crew scopes differ from Australian practice
- Bottom line
- Context only
Why it matters in Australia (Medium relevance). A US tiered interfacility-transfer model, but Australian rural services do equivalent paediatric transfers with the same workforce questions — the age-group differences are the transferable part.
Learning goal
Understand how crew scope and transport mode shape safe rural paediatric interfacility transfers in Australia.
More
- Topic: Paediatrics
- Daily scan: 7 October 2026
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