Predicting Successful Neonatal Retro-Transfer to a Lower Level of Care

Sarah N Kunz; Dmitry Dukhovny; Jochen Profit; Wenyang Mao; David Miedema; John A F Zupancic

doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.09.010

Predicting Successful Neonatal Retro-Transfer to a Lower Level of Care

J Pediatr. 2019 Feb:205:272-276.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.09.010. Epub 2018 Oct 2.

Authors

Sarah N Kunz¹, Dmitry Dukhovny², Jochen Profit³, Wenyang Mao⁴, David Miedema⁴, John A F Zupancic⁵

Affiliations

¹ Division of Newborn Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Department of Neonatology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA. Electronic address: skunz@bidmc.harvard.edu.
² Department of Pediatrics, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR.
³ Department of Pediatrics-Neonatal and Developmental Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA; California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative, Stanford, CA.
⁴ Department of Neonatology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA.
⁵ Division of Newborn Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Department of Neonatology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA.

Abstract

Up to 20% of newborn infants retro-transferred to a lower level of care require readmission to a higher-level facility. In this study, we developed and validated a prediction rule (The Rule for Elective Transfer between Units for Recovering Neonates [RETURN]) to identify clinical characteristics of infants at risk for failing retro-transfer.

Keywords: convalescent care; neonatal regionalization; neonatal transport; newborn.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Infant, Premature*
Intensive Care Units, Neonatal / statistics & numerical data*
Male
Nurseries, Hospital / statistics & numerical data*
Patient Transfer / standards*
Prognosis
ROC Curve
Referral and Consultation*
Retrospective Studies

Grants and funding

T32 HD075727/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United States