Introduction: Hospital transport of critically ill patients is a high-risk intervention due to the unstable nature of the clinical status of such patients and other external factors. Adverse events of hospital transports of critically ill patients cause unnecessary delays, endanger the individual and increase the costs of medical care. Assessing the patient's health before the intervention, use of preventive tools and the development of transport protocols are key to improving safety of critically ill patients during hospital transports. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to present ways to ensure safety during hospital transport of a critically ill patient and the most common adverse events that may occur during such transport. Methods: We used a descriptive method to review scientific literature. The literature was obtained from search engines and databases (PubMed, Google scholar, ScienceDirect, CINAHL, Medline). The following keywords were used in the search: transport, intrahospital, intra-hospital, critically ill, patient, checklist, guideline. When selecting the literature published between 2010 and 2021 in Slovene or English, we considered the content adequacy and the accessibility of the full text. For a more comprehensive explanation of theoretical basis, the literature review also includes literature from the list of sources of selected articles. Results: The introduction of a check list reduces the incidence of adverse events without major systemic changes or additional costs for hospitals. Most adverse events are related to technical problems and the clinical status of the patient. Other specified adverse events are problems with organization of the intervention, inadequate hospital infrastructure and incompetence of the transport team. Over time, employees adopt transport protocols into their daily practice and in parallel, the occurrence of adverse events decreases. Discussion and conclusion: To prevent adverse events and ensure the safety of critically ill patients during intra-hospital transports, it is necessary to have an appropriate transport team, proper equipment, and a hemodynamically stable individual prior to the intervention. The use of transport checklists during intra-hospital transport of critically ill patients improves patient safety and reduces the incidence of adverse events.
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