Neonatal Transport Program

Welcome to the webpage of the Neonatal Transport Program – Montreal children’s hospital.

Important contact information:

Direct number: 514-934-4425

Toll free number for outside Montreal region: 1 - 888 590-1617

To optimize communication when calling our team:

When you contact our team for a transfer or to receive advice, it will be necessary to have certain demographic information about the patient in order to open his or her file at the Montreal Children's Hospital and to activate the transport team.

The following information will be routinely requested:

  • Reason for the consultation or indication for the transfer request
  • Child's name
  • Mother's first and last name
  • Date and time of the child's birth
  • Gender of the child
  • Mother's health insurance number (RAMQ) and expiration date
  • Location of referral where the patient is located
  • Name of the referring health professional
  • Telephone number to call you back if necessary

When we transport a newborn, we also need as much clinical information as possible. We will ask you to provide the following information in order to complete our “Request for Neonatal Transport and Consult Services” document:

  • Pregnancy history (serologies, ultrasounds)
  • Birth history (term of pregnancy, mode of birth, APGAR, birth weight, birth intervention, infectious risk factors, cord pH)
  • Postnatal history including
    • Recent vital signs including patient temperature
    • Clinician assessment of the patient including physical examination findings
    • Paraclinical examinations (laboratory and imaging)
    • Interventions made to support the patient to date

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About us

Our team consists of over 30 nurses and respiratory therapists with specialized training in neonatal transport. They work in collaboration with a physician in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Montreal Children's Hospital. This specialized team is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We work closely with Urgence-Santé and EVacuations Aéromédicales du Québec (EVAQ).

Thanks to its skills and state-of-the-art equipment, our team is able to offer the best care to newborns with multiple medical or surgical conditions that require transfer to a specialized center.

Approximately 500 newborns are transported each year from over 40 referring centers. Newborns requiring urgent stabilization are rapidly managed by our specialized team. Transfers from other institutions account for more than 40% of newborns admitted to the Montreal Children's Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit each year.

Our team also ensures the repatriation of newborns to their region of origin once their condition has stabilized or their convalescence is complete.

A consultation service with a doctor specialized in neonatology for health professionals working with neonatal clients is also available at all times.

 

 

Our mission

At birth, some newborns with various medical or surgical conditions will require specialized care. Many of these newborns are born in hospitals that do not have the resources to continue the management of their condition.

Our team's mission is to make advanced neonatal care expertise available in regional centers and to ensure the transportation of newborns to a specialized center. Upon arrival, our team will do everything possible to stabilize a critically ill newborn with advanced care expertise and specialized equipment. Our team will also ensure that the newborn's stability is maintained during transport to a specialized center so that he or she can be transported safely.

 
Our team

The Montreal Children's Hospital Neonatal Transport Team is composed of nurses and respiratory therapists with extensive experience in neonatal transport and neonatal intensive care. 

All members of our team have several years of experience in the NICU and have completed rigorous training in neonatal transport.

Medical director

Dr. François Olivier, Medical Director of the Transport Team

Coordinators

Florence Casuar, Assistant Nurse Manager (interim)

Bao Tran Dang, Assistant Nurse Manager

Jean-François Trudel, RT, Technical Coordinator Respiratory Therapy

 

Care provided in transport and equipment

Specialized care offered by our transport team:

  • Management of patients with respiratory conditions (non-invasive ventilation, intubation, invasive ventilation, surfactant, oxygen, nitric oxide)
  • Assistance with pneumothorax decompression and chest tube placement
  • Management of patients with cardiac conditions (hemodynamic support, prostaglandin administration)
  • Management of patients with a surgical condition
  • Assistance in the insertion of venous access including central lines
  • Administration of medications and blood products
  • Assistance in the birth of very premature babies and subsequent management
  • Management of newborns with perinatal asphyxia (neurological evaluation, therapeutic hypothermia)

Our team has state-of-the-art equipment:

  • Incubator with intelligent temperature control
  • Cardiorespiratory monitor
  • Ventilator offering different modes of respiratory support
  • Supplies and equipment for intubation and invasive ventilation, non-invasive ventilation and high flow oxygen therapy.
  • Suction device
  • Respiratory gas humidification device
  • Oxygen
  • Nitric oxide
  • Surfactant, inotropes and many other medications used in the NICU
  • Syringe pumps and volumetric infusion pumps with programmed drug libraries
  • Portable blood testing device
  • Phototherapy device
  • Servo-controlled therapeutic hypothermia device
Information for families

When our team picks up your child for transportation to a specialized center, we will make sure to provide you with the contact information for the destination. Written documentation with general information will be given to you. We will also ask you to share your contact information so that we can reach you at any time and to give your consent for the transportation of your child.

Our team will make every effort to keep you well informed about your child's condition. If possible, we always make time to stop by mom's room just before departure.

If your baby is transported to the Montreal Children's Hospital, you can call the Neonatal Unit at anytime for an update: 514-412-4400 ext 22389 or go to Neonatology (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) | Montreal Children's Hospital for more information.

In the case that your baby is transported to a referring center, the transport team will provide you with pertinent information (address, phone number, location of unit) so you can additionally obtain updates any time you wish.

Here is some information available for families:

Media
Refer a patient 

Neonatal transport team: referring centers (doctors and midwives) can call 514 934-4425 or 1-888 590-1617 (toll-free) to speak to a neonatologist

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