Two way Transport of Neonates to the pediatric intensive care Unii of the University Hospital Split

The best way to transport seriously ill neonates is by "two way transport". It means that the transport team from the referring hospital comes for the child to take over ongoing care. The treatment begins immediately, in the community hospital where the child was born, and the transport is arranged when the best possible conditions are achieved. We present the "two way transport" that links the Pediatric intensive care unit of the University hospital Split and the Air Force Base Divulje in Kaštela with Departments of Neonatology of General Hospital Dubrovnik and General Hospital Zadar. Over an eighteen months period, from February 2003, to August 2004, we transported fourteen neonates to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of the University Hospital Split. According to calculations of the Neonatal Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (NTISS), estimated seriousness of their conditions was extremely high and life threatening. The clinical condition of the neonates remained without deterioration by the end of transport. Our system contributes to establishing and shaping "two way transport" in Croatia