UAB’s Critical Care Transport (CCT) has nine documents published in the latest edition of the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS) Best Practices book, making it the most frequently cited program in the edition.

Nurse Practitioner Valorie Tucker and Respiratory Therapist Troy Biles attend to two infants on a Critical Care Transport flight. Since 1983, UAB’s CCT has transported more than 33,000 patients to and from 48 states flown over 25 million miles and driven over six million miles.

“This attests to the excellence of our transport program at the national level,” says Laura Lee Demmons, manager of CCT. “It is a unique distinction among accredited programs and is a wonderful accolade as we approach our 25th anniversary. It is great to see our transport team recognized for the outstanding work they do every day.”

Best Practices is a collection of outstanding programs and policies from accredited medical transport services.

The documents/policies included are: Documentation-Medical Record; Inter-national Transport Guidelines; Latex Allergy (hospital policy); Driver Training; Safety Program Outline; Accident Plan – Fixed Wing and Ground; Accident Drill Summary; Quality Improvement Flowchart; Quality Improvement Plan – Fixed Wing and Ground.

CAMTS has accredited 135 rotor wing, fixed wing and/or ground transport programs in the United States, Canada and South Africa. UAB’s CCT was accredited in 1999 and is one of three programs accredited in Alabama.

UAB’s CCT was the first civilian aircraft in the country to use a liquid oxygen system with interchangeable liquid oxygen canisters. Since 1983, UAB’s CCT has transported more than 33,000 patients to and from 48 states, flown more than 25 million miles and driven more than 6 million miles. The unit broke its previous record for transports in one fiscal year with 1,800 transports for the year ending in September. The previous record was 1,686.

CCT carries more than 1,600 patients a year to UAB Hospital and other destinations. Routinely, the CCT team travels to a community hospital, stabilizes a critically ill patient in an intensive care unit (ICU) and delivers the patient to a larger hospital’s ICU by land or jet.