UAB Medicine Critical Care Transport

UAB Medicine Critical Care Transport, called CCT, is a hospital programme run by UAB Medicine in Birmingham, Alabama. It moves patients from one medical facility to another, across the United States and around the world.

Services

CCT plans the whole trip from bedside to bedside, including ground transport before and after the flight. Patients do not have to be going to or from UAB Hospital. The service is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

An adult team has an ICU nurse and a respiratory therapist. Doctors are on call as needed. For babies, the team includes a neonatal nurse practitioner or a respiratory therapist.

The site lists ventilator care, ECMO management, intra-aortic balloon pumps, ventricular assist devices, nitric oxide and neonatal high-frequency ventilation among its onboard skills.

Aircraft and vehicles

CCT flies a twin-engine jet with an intensive care unit on board. The jet can often fly above or around weather that is too rough for helicopters. For ground trips within 125 miles of Birmingham, CCT has five ICU-equipped vehicles.

Nurses on the team need at least three years of ICU experience, and the site says all of its respiratory therapists are registered. Medical control comes from attending physicians at UAB Hospital. The site says the jet was designed from many years of patient experience in the earlier aircraft and has backup systems built in twice over.

Facts

• Type: hospital programme of UAB Medicine, with a fixed-wing jet and ground units
• First transport in 1983, according to the programme
• Accredited by CAMTS since 1999, according to the programme
• Teams have travelled to 38 countries, according to the programme