Going it alone: the beginning of a nurse-led retrieval service.

Training for experienced paediatric intensive care nurses to work as retrieval nurse practitioners is being offered by the South Thames Retrieval Service. To date, nine such practitioners have been assessed as competent to practise independently and in their first three and a half years of practice have transferred 366 critically ill children. Potential obstacles included: limitations to prescribing, resistance to nurses performing a traditional medical role and adaptation in the paediatric intensive care unit environment. Continuing evaluation is essential to ensure a high standard of care.