Background: Within a regionalized system for neonatal intensive care, non-emergency transfers away from tertiary NICU hospitals occur frequently, for example due to a stabilized condition of the child, due to capacity issues, or for semi-elective surgical treatment. Although the negative impact of transport of critically ill preterm neonates has been extensively described, the effects of non-emergency transport specifically is not widely reported on. This scoping review aims to examine the current literature on how non-emergency neonatal inter-hospital transfers of preterm infants affect both the child and their parents. Methods: A scoping review will be conducted following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Medline, Embase and CINAHL data will be searched for English or Dutch language empirical research publications or guidelines. Excluded are (systematic) reviews, (educational) simulation-based research, commentary, protocols and conference abstracts. Screening, data extraction and quality assessment will be performed by at least two independent authors. Quantitative and qualitative data will be assessed separately. Outcome measures include any information of the clinical situation/stability of the child before, during and/or after transport, and any parent reported outcome and experience measures regarding transfer experiences.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This research is supported by Convergence | Healthy Start, a program of the Convergence Alliance – Delft University of Technology, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Erasmus Medical Center – to improve the future of new generations. The funder plays no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the manuscript.

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

Only openly available human data will be used that were originally reported on in the studies that will be included in the scoping review.

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

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I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

Yes

All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors.