Why Patient Transport Can Be Dangerous (And What Saves Lives)
- Administrator
- Jun 21
- 1 min read
The transfer itself should never become the cause of patient harm.
During inter-facility transport, critically ill patients face significant physiological risks from physical forces, particularly acceleration and deceleration forces that cause blood and organs to shift within the body, potentially leading to hypotension, increased intracranial pressure, cardiac failure, pulmonary edema, aspiration risk, and spinal displacement in injured patients.
Beyond these dynamic hazards, static environmental stressors including noise, vibration, and temperature extremes further compromise patient stability by elevating heart rate and blood pressure, causing pain and discomfort, and risking hypo/hyperthermia while potentially degrading medications and equipment functionality.
Understanding transport physiology, especially Newton's Third Law ("for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction") and its application to human physiology, is critical to ensuring quality patient care during air or ground ambulance transport, as critically ill patients may deteriorate during transfer and require specialized interventions such as sedatives, analgesics, and neuromuscular blockers to mitigate physiological consequences of transport.
Reference/s:
Beard, Laura, Peter Lax, and M. Tindall. 2016. “Physiological Effects of Transfer for Critically Ill Patients.” Anaesthesia Tutorial of the Week 330 (May 4). World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists. Accessed June 21, 2026. https://resources.wfsahq.org/wp-content/uploads/330_english.pdf.
Hindle, E. M., and J. D. Henning. 2014. "Critical Care at Extremes of Temperature: Effects on Patients, Staff and Equipment." BMJ Military Health 160: 279–85.
ASTNA. 4th ed. Patient Transport: Principles and Practice.https://militaryhealth.bmj.com/content/160/4/279.
Harding, J., et al. "Physical Stresses Related to the Transport of the Critically Ill: Optimal Nursing Management." National Library of Medicine. PMID: 14533212. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14533212/.