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Kentucky Children's Hospital Neonatal/Pediatric Transport Team
Dr. Matthew Bacon discusses the transport team and the services they provide.
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Learn more about Matthew Bacon, MD
Matthew Bacon, MD
Dr. Bacon joined the faculty at the University of Kentucky in 2015 after finishing his Pediatric Critical Care fellowship at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. In 2017-2018, he completed an advanced fellowship in Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and continues to hold a faculty appointment there within the CICU.Learn more about Matthew Bacon, MD
Transcription:
Evo Terra (Host): This is UK HealthCast, the podcast from the University of Kentucky Healthcare. I'm Evo Terra. Today I'm joined by Dr. Matthew Bacon, Medical Director of Kentucky Kids Crew Transport Team, Medical Director of Kentucky Kids Crew Transport Team. Dr Bacon, can you tell me more about Kentucky Children's Hospital's Transport Team, and what exactly does that mean? And what services do they provide?
Matthew Bacon, MD (Guest): Yeah, well, thanks for the opportunity to talk about our team today. So, we have a group currently of 16 nurses that are specially trained to deal with both neonatal and pediatric emergencies at remote sites throughout the state. So, our team is dispatched to, to really travel all over the state of Kentucky and even into parts of Ohio and West Virginia pick up children throughout various referring hospitals. They really specialize in the transport of critically ill neonates and pediatric patients, but also transport, you know, patients that really just need our services here at Kentucky Children's Hospital from their local community to here.
Host: Yeah, I would imagine that we serve such a wide range of needs of patients that need to get the care. Do you only use ambulances to transport patients?
Dr. Bacon: No, that's a good question. So, we have three different ambulances that are owned by our team. But we also do a fair number of flights throughout the state. Probably most people know that the state of Kentucky can be quite a rural area and take quite a long time to get to and from Kentucky Children's Hospital. So, we have an algorithm by which we will fly on some occasions to get to places if either the patient's acuity needs us at the bedside faster, or sometimes it just makes more sense to have the team get out and get back quicker to go on more transports. So we contract with an independent company.
We don't actually own the helicopter, but we contract with an independent company to that flies our team. So, I want to stress that, that when they see this helicopter come it has our team on it, despite not having our logos and bringing those services to the bedside. On any given month, we're usually somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 20% flights. And then usually about 80 to 90% ground via our specialty trucks.
Host: Excellent. Now I know that Kentucky Children's Hospital has the only transport team in the region that's exclusively dedicated to transporting newborns and children. But what does this mean do you think to the families and parents in our region?
Dr. Bacon: Ah, I think, you know, for me, it's just like, kind of going to a pediatrician for things. So, everything is designed around children. If you can imagine, you know, the burden of kind of disease and trauma on all the local helicopters and crews and transports is a mix between pediatric, adult of all ages. Whereas our team really is focused only on children. We spend a lot of time doing specialized training for dealing with ages between zero days old and 18 years age, and are really able to focus in specifically on that age group. I think the other thing that kind of sometimes gets missed is really the customer service piece for both the children and the family with that. But we're able to specialize truly in on the needs of the child, whether it's a lot of times that's the medical needs, but sometimes that's just the social and emotional needs of a scared two or three year old that's being put in an ambulance for the first time. It's also the petrified family and parents who are going off sometimes two hours away. And so our team is really able to focus on the entire needs of not only the child, but the family as a whole, because that's all we do.
We don't have to focus on those older disease processes and age groups. We focus only on children.
Host: Sure. Sure. Let's focus on your team for just a moment. Let's talk about specialized training that makes them so great when a patient needs access to the specialized care. What's so special about your transport team?
Dr. Bacon: Well, I think first of all, what's special about them is the selection with which we go through. So, you know, as I mentioned, we have currently we are a nurse team. And so all 16 of our nurses have a considerable amount of critical care background prior to joining our team. They come to us from the neonatal ICU, the pediatric ICU, or even from our dedicated pediatric emergency department with experience dealing with those kind of emergency and critical situations. It requires at least two years of bedside experience in those areas to really apply for the team. After that, we really go through a really an intense specialized orientation process where they join with our team and learn what we do for anywhere from 12 to 16 weeks before we kind of put them out on their own. From there, it really is the ongoing maintenance of specialty services that we can deliver to the bedside. So we, at least twice a year, we do focused training on insertion of lines, getting IVs or interosseous lines in critical situations.
Doing CPR, unfortunately on neonatal or pediatric patients. So twice, at least twice a year, we have a dedicated skills and training day that only focuses on specialty procedures that, that we might encounter in the neonatal and pediatric period. You know, we spend a long time perfecting our nurses' skills with an airway, getting, being able to intubate a patient on the first time and even down to neonates.
So I think you know, the expertise of our training comes both from their background and experience, but also the ongoing maintenance that we have. At least once every three months we do case review, as well, where we will the past cases as well as ongoing education, and maybe there's a new emerging topic that we need to discuss as a team and work into our protocols. So, that's a big focus of kind of how we maintain our expertise.
Host: Well, I think that demonstrates it quite clearly. And with such a focus on just young people, we don't have to deal as you mentioned ago, we are not dealing with how disease presents themselves as we grow older. I would imagine some special care has been placed around the equipment that's utilized specifically the ambulances that people may see driving around. So, talk about what makes them so special.
Dr. Bacon: That's a great point. And then thanks for bringing it up. So you got it. I think our ambulances are very noticeable. They're a nice shade of Kentucky blue as they drive through the state. Our ambulances are equipped with things that every other ambulance company may not be able to afford or justify their use because, you know, they don't do a whole bunch of, you know, 23 week, 24 week neonates. So, all of our ambulances are equipped to care for, we have special isolettes, for example, just like you would see in the neonatal ICU, that transport these infants and keep their temperature, keep the humidity at an appropriate level. We're able to monitor their cardiac hemodynamics throughout the transport and also special kind of respiratory equipment that is just specific for either neonates or pediatrics that adults may not use. The one thing that we're really proud of is that thanks to our some of our donating partners, we were recently able to purchase a an ambulance that will allow us to transport to up to two full size patients at one time. And so that transport really helps us expedite our ability to get to referring hospitals, let's say if there happens to be twins born. Previously we would have to send two vehicles in order to get both of those patients back. Now we can do it in one ambulance. In the rare instance that there happens to be two transport needs either at adjacent or the same hospitals, now we're able to do that with one trip with the team in that one truck. So, these ambulances are outfitted really with the equipment that is located both in our neonatal ICU and our pediatric ICU and in the pediatric emergency department. And we're able to take that directly to the bedside.
Host: And how many patients are transported annually throughout the KCH ambulance?
Dr. Bacon: Yeah, so our transport numbers have kind of risen consistently over the last several years. Right now we're anywhere between 950 and 1000 transports a year. And so the team is very busy and we're, we're looking at opportunities to continue to expand to allow more access. Currently we staff two teams during the day which is usually our busiest hours and one team at night pretty much a 365 days a year.
Host: Wow. That's a lot of patients that you're transporting. Anything else you'd like to share or that we should share and highlight about your team?
Dr. Bacon: Well, I just think that the other important piece that kind of makes us a little bit different is as we like to think that we're bringing the ICU to the bedside. And one of the things that I should've mentioned earlier that kind of sets our team apart from other transport services or ambulance cruises, we, as the physician providers are a direct line and resource to the specialty nurses that are going to be at the bedside. We're in frequent contact. And when they get to the bedside if things are not exactly as they envisioned, then they have our direct phone number and we're able to troubleshoot kind of on the fly and really start care there at the referring hospital, as soon as our team gets there, regardless of what the circumstances may be. So, that real direct line of communication is also quite unique for our team. I'm very proud of the work that they all put in and the service that we're really, you know, I think of this team as the epitome of what our mission is at the Children's Hospital, and that is delivering care throughout the regions of the state of Kentucky. And we're able to do that, by taking the team out to where they are.
Host: Well, you certainly demonstrated their expertise and wonderfulness here on the program today, Doctor. Thank you very much for joining me.
Dr. Bacon: Hey, I appreciate your time. Thank you.
Host: Once again, that was Dr. Matthew Bacon, Medical Director of Kentucky Kids Crew Transport Team. To see what services the pediatric critical care team provides, please visit UKhealthcare.uky.edu and select pediatric services. And thank you for listening to this episode of UK HealthCast with the University of Kentucky Healthcare. I have been your host Evo Terra. If you found this podcast episode helpful, please share it on your social channels and be sure to check out the entire podcast library for topics of interest to you. Thanks for listening.
Evo Terra (Host): This is UK HealthCast, the podcast from the University of Kentucky Healthcare. I'm Evo Terra. Today I'm joined by Dr. Matthew Bacon, Medical Director of Kentucky Kids Crew Transport Team, Medical Director of Kentucky Kids Crew Transport Team. Dr Bacon, can you tell me more about Kentucky Children's Hospital's Transport Team, and what exactly does that mean? And what services do they provide?
Matthew Bacon, MD (Guest): Yeah, well, thanks for the opportunity to talk about our team today. So, we have a group currently of 16 nurses that are specially trained to deal with both neonatal and pediatric emergencies at remote sites throughout the state. So, our team is dispatched to, to really travel all over the state of Kentucky and even into parts of Ohio and West Virginia pick up children throughout various referring hospitals. They really specialize in the transport of critically ill neonates and pediatric patients, but also transport, you know, patients that really just need our services here at Kentucky Children's Hospital from their local community to here.
Host: Yeah, I would imagine that we serve such a wide range of needs of patients that need to get the care. Do you only use ambulances to transport patients?
Dr. Bacon: No, that's a good question. So, we have three different ambulances that are owned by our team. But we also do a fair number of flights throughout the state. Probably most people know that the state of Kentucky can be quite a rural area and take quite a long time to get to and from Kentucky Children's Hospital. So, we have an algorithm by which we will fly on some occasions to get to places if either the patient's acuity needs us at the bedside faster, or sometimes it just makes more sense to have the team get out and get back quicker to go on more transports. So we contract with an independent company.
We don't actually own the helicopter, but we contract with an independent company to that flies our team. So, I want to stress that, that when they see this helicopter come it has our team on it, despite not having our logos and bringing those services to the bedside. On any given month, we're usually somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 20% flights. And then usually about 80 to 90% ground via our specialty trucks.
Host: Excellent. Now I know that Kentucky Children's Hospital has the only transport team in the region that's exclusively dedicated to transporting newborns and children. But what does this mean do you think to the families and parents in our region?
Dr. Bacon: Ah, I think, you know, for me, it's just like, kind of going to a pediatrician for things. So, everything is designed around children. If you can imagine, you know, the burden of kind of disease and trauma on all the local helicopters and crews and transports is a mix between pediatric, adult of all ages. Whereas our team really is focused only on children. We spend a lot of time doing specialized training for dealing with ages between zero days old and 18 years age, and are really able to focus in specifically on that age group. I think the other thing that kind of sometimes gets missed is really the customer service piece for both the children and the family with that. But we're able to specialize truly in on the needs of the child, whether it's a lot of times that's the medical needs, but sometimes that's just the social and emotional needs of a scared two or three year old that's being put in an ambulance for the first time. It's also the petrified family and parents who are going off sometimes two hours away. And so our team is really able to focus on the entire needs of not only the child, but the family as a whole, because that's all we do.
We don't have to focus on those older disease processes and age groups. We focus only on children.
Host: Sure. Sure. Let's focus on your team for just a moment. Let's talk about specialized training that makes them so great when a patient needs access to the specialized care. What's so special about your transport team?
Dr. Bacon: Well, I think first of all, what's special about them is the selection with which we go through. So, you know, as I mentioned, we have currently we are a nurse team. And so all 16 of our nurses have a considerable amount of critical care background prior to joining our team. They come to us from the neonatal ICU, the pediatric ICU, or even from our dedicated pediatric emergency department with experience dealing with those kind of emergency and critical situations. It requires at least two years of bedside experience in those areas to really apply for the team. After that, we really go through a really an intense specialized orientation process where they join with our team and learn what we do for anywhere from 12 to 16 weeks before we kind of put them out on their own. From there, it really is the ongoing maintenance of specialty services that we can deliver to the bedside. So we, at least twice a year, we do focused training on insertion of lines, getting IVs or interosseous lines in critical situations.
Doing CPR, unfortunately on neonatal or pediatric patients. So twice, at least twice a year, we have a dedicated skills and training day that only focuses on specialty procedures that, that we might encounter in the neonatal and pediatric period. You know, we spend a long time perfecting our nurses' skills with an airway, getting, being able to intubate a patient on the first time and even down to neonates.
So I think you know, the expertise of our training comes both from their background and experience, but also the ongoing maintenance that we have. At least once every three months we do case review, as well, where we will the past cases as well as ongoing education, and maybe there's a new emerging topic that we need to discuss as a team and work into our protocols. So, that's a big focus of kind of how we maintain our expertise.
Host: Well, I think that demonstrates it quite clearly. And with such a focus on just young people, we don't have to deal as you mentioned ago, we are not dealing with how disease presents themselves as we grow older. I would imagine some special care has been placed around the equipment that's utilized specifically the ambulances that people may see driving around. So, talk about what makes them so special.
Dr. Bacon: That's a great point. And then thanks for bringing it up. So you got it. I think our ambulances are very noticeable. They're a nice shade of Kentucky blue as they drive through the state. Our ambulances are equipped with things that every other ambulance company may not be able to afford or justify their use because, you know, they don't do a whole bunch of, you know, 23 week, 24 week neonates. So, all of our ambulances are equipped to care for, we have special isolettes, for example, just like you would see in the neonatal ICU, that transport these infants and keep their temperature, keep the humidity at an appropriate level. We're able to monitor their cardiac hemodynamics throughout the transport and also special kind of respiratory equipment that is just specific for either neonates or pediatrics that adults may not use. The one thing that we're really proud of is that thanks to our some of our donating partners, we were recently able to purchase a an ambulance that will allow us to transport to up to two full size patients at one time. And so that transport really helps us expedite our ability to get to referring hospitals, let's say if there happens to be twins born. Previously we would have to send two vehicles in order to get both of those patients back. Now we can do it in one ambulance. In the rare instance that there happens to be two transport needs either at adjacent or the same hospitals, now we're able to do that with one trip with the team in that one truck. So, these ambulances are outfitted really with the equipment that is located both in our neonatal ICU and our pediatric ICU and in the pediatric emergency department. And we're able to take that directly to the bedside.
Host: And how many patients are transported annually throughout the KCH ambulance?
Dr. Bacon: Yeah, so our transport numbers have kind of risen consistently over the last several years. Right now we're anywhere between 950 and 1000 transports a year. And so the team is very busy and we're, we're looking at opportunities to continue to expand to allow more access. Currently we staff two teams during the day which is usually our busiest hours and one team at night pretty much a 365 days a year.
Host: Wow. That's a lot of patients that you're transporting. Anything else you'd like to share or that we should share and highlight about your team?
Dr. Bacon: Well, I just think that the other important piece that kind of makes us a little bit different is as we like to think that we're bringing the ICU to the bedside. And one of the things that I should've mentioned earlier that kind of sets our team apart from other transport services or ambulance cruises, we, as the physician providers are a direct line and resource to the specialty nurses that are going to be at the bedside. We're in frequent contact. And when they get to the bedside if things are not exactly as they envisioned, then they have our direct phone number and we're able to troubleshoot kind of on the fly and really start care there at the referring hospital, as soon as our team gets there, regardless of what the circumstances may be. So, that real direct line of communication is also quite unique for our team. I'm very proud of the work that they all put in and the service that we're really, you know, I think of this team as the epitome of what our mission is at the Children's Hospital, and that is delivering care throughout the regions of the state of Kentucky. And we're able to do that, by taking the team out to where they are.
Host: Well, you certainly demonstrated their expertise and wonderfulness here on the program today, Doctor. Thank you very much for joining me.
Dr. Bacon: Hey, I appreciate your time. Thank you.
Host: Once again, that was Dr. Matthew Bacon, Medical Director of Kentucky Kids Crew Transport Team. To see what services the pediatric critical care team provides, please visit UKhealthcare.uky.edu and select pediatric services. And thank you for listening to this episode of UK HealthCast with the University of Kentucky Healthcare. I have been your host Evo Terra. If you found this podcast episode helpful, please share it on your social channels and be sure to check out the entire podcast library for topics of interest to you. Thanks for listening.