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Physician Resource

New Process for Transferring Patients to UVA Children’s Hospital

To ensure we provide a reliable, timely response to transfer requests, UVA Children’s Hospital has changed its process for receiving pediatric patients. The goal: to provide physicians wishing to transfer a patient to UVA Children’s Hospital, including the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), with a single point of contact and reliable, physician-to-physician communication that will allow patients to promptly get the care they need.

While this transfer process is very similar to our adult inpatient transfer process, there are some differences you need to be aware of prior to contacting our Transfer Center.

To transfer a pediatric or neonate patient to UVA Children’s Hospital:

1. Call 844.XFER.UVA (933.7882) 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All calls will be recorded for quality assurance purposes.

2. You will be prompted with questions regarding your transfer request. To expedite the process, when speaking with the operator, please specify that you are calling for potential transfer of a neonate to the NICU or a pediatric patient to UVA Children’s Hospital.

3. You will be placed on hold briefly while the UVA attending physician or fellow joins the line.

4. After you speak with the physician, the transfer center facilitator will remain on the line to collect more details about the transfer.

5. At this time, you may transfer the call to a unit assistant or nurse to complete the necessary data transfer, allowing you to return to care for your patient.

6. The Newborn Emergency Transport Service (NETS) or the Pediatric Critical Care Transport Service will be dispatched promptly, if appropriate (see below).

For transfer to the NICU, please only use the process outlined above so that we can facilitate bed assignments and information sharing. The NICU can be contacted directly at 434.924.2335 for emergencies, such as CPR in progress on a newborn, or regular (nontransfer) consultations only.

Newborn Emergency Transport Service (NETS) Presence at Deliveries
NETS can be dispatched for a delivery only if the fetus is less than 30 weeks or has known fetal anomalies that require immediate intervention and is:

  • A C-section
  • Imminent (i.e., 9 cm and rapidly progressed, 10 cm and pushing)

NETS is not otherwise dispatched for deliveries due to time limitations during waiting periods and possible delay of dispatch for other emergent cases.

To ensure your team is familiar with the UVA Children’s Hospital transfer process, print this flyer for reference.

 

 

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