Background The current health network structure and a lack of a proper filter for pre-hospital care makes every hospital potentially involved into the management of any critical paediatric patient regardless the local experience and organisation.

Any first patient’s stabilisation will have to be followed by a secured secondary transport until the hospitalisation at the new facility.

Objective Explore the hospitals’ organisational set up concerning the secondary transport of paediatric critical care patients.

Materials and methods Structured survey delivered to 92 hospitals in Lombardy

Results The response rate was 56%, corresponding to 52 health care facilities. In 29 facilities a dedicated transport service for critical care patients does exist but just in one hospital it’s specific for paediatric patients and it has dedicated staff. Forty facilities are equipped with a paediatric medical bag and the more involved operator is an anesthesiologist for 39% of cases, followed by the paediatrician in 13% of cases. The nurse participates to the transport in 50% of cases; in 28% of the hospitals a critical care nurses is involved, in 7% of cases the nurse is not specialised and in 4% the nurses is specialised in paediatrics.

Discussion The data shows an non homogeneity management of the critical care patient secondary transport.

Conclusions It’s highly desirable the activation of a secondary transport service with an organisational level compared to the neonatal emergency transport service because the child has its own characteristics as like as the newborn or the adult.