helicopter emergency medical system

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: To compare the prehospital treatment modalities and intervention regimens for major trauma patients with comparable injury patterns between Austria and Germany. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This analysis is based on data retrieved from the TraumaRegister DGU®. Data included severely injured trauma patients with an injury severity score (ISS) ≥ 16, an age ≥ 16 years, and who were primarily admitted to an Austrian (n = 4186) or German (n = 41,484) level I trauma center (TC) from 2008 to 2017...

BACKGROUND: Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) may be tasked to equestrian related incidents. Previous studies have suggested that majority of patients do not require HEMS specific interventions. No data has been published since 2015 so this article aims to establish the current incidence of equestrian incidents attended by one UK HEMS and identify trends that would aid the dispatch of HEMS to the patients who most need it. METHODS: A retrospective review of the computerised record system for one UK HEMS was performed between 1st January 2015-30th June 2022...

The case presented here highlights the utility/feasibility of the SEADUC (EM Innovations, Galloway, OH) manual suction unit in clearing a contaminated airway during rapid sequence intubation. The case also highlights the importance of intubation in a patient with declining mental status in the prehospital environment. A 75-year-old woman suffered a head injury, and a helicopter emergency medical service team staffed with a physician and nurse was tasked with retrieval and transfer back to the tertiary care center...

BACKGROUND: Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) are a limited and expensive resource, and should be intelligently tasked. HEMS dispatch was identified as a key research priority in 2011, with a call to identify a 'general set of criteria with the highest discriminating potential'. However, there have been no published data analyses in the past decade that specifically address this priority, and this priority has been reaffirmed in 2023. The objective of this study was to define the dispatch criteria available at the time of the initial emergency call with the greatest HEMS utility using a large, regional, multi-organizational dataset in the UK...

INTRODUCTION: Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) is integrated into modern emergency medical services because of its suggested mortality benefit in certain patient populations, it is an expensive resource and appropriate use/feasibility in low- to middle income countries (LMIC) is highly debated. To maximise benefit, correct patient selection in HEMS is paramount. To achieve this, current practices first need to be described. The study aims to describe a population of patients utilising HEMS in South Africa, in terms of flight data, patient demographics, provisional diagnosis, as well as clinical characteristics and interventions...

BACKGROUND: Post-intubation hypotension (PIH) after prehospital emergency anaesthesia (PHEA) is prevalent and associated with increased mortality in trauma patients. The objective of this study was to compare the differential determinants of PIH in adult trauma patients undergoing PHEA. METHODS: This multi-centre retrospective observational study was performed across three Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) in the UK. Consecutive sampling of trauma patients who underwent PHEA using a fentanyl, ketamine, rocuronium drug regime were included, 2015-2020...

In rural areas, the medical resources are extremely limited not only pandemic but non-pandemic period. Tele-healthcare system using digital technology-based telemedicine is widely used across various medical specialties. To solve limitation of medical resources in hospital located in remote isolated areas, telehealthcare system using smart application has been applied to access expert opinions in pre-coronavirus disease (COVID-19) era since 2017. The COVID-19 has spread also in this island during COVID-19 period...

Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) have formed an integral component of the Irish health care system for the past decade; yet, the factors leading their commencement, their evolutions over this time, and the current model of service delivery have not been widely published. Aeromedical service provision may vary significantly from country to country and may also vary regionally within countries. A health system's necessities; capacity and maturity; the level of state, corporate, private, or community investment; and the capacity of the contracted service provider are all factors that influence the service provision...

BACKGROUND: Prehospital emergency anaesthesia (PHEA) is a high-risk procedure. We developed a prehospital anaesthesia protocol for helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) that standardises the process and involves ambulance crews as active team members to increase efficiency and patient safety. The aim of the current study was to evaluate this change and its sustainability in (i) on-scene time, (ii) intubation first-pass success rate, and (iii) protocol compliance after a multifaceted implementation process...

BACKGROUND: For helicopter emergency service systems (HEMS), the prehospital time consists of response time, on-scene time and transport time. Little is known about the factors that influence on-scene time or about differences between adult and paediatric missions in a physician-staffed HEMS. METHODS: We analysed the HEMS electronic database of Swiss Air-Rescue from 01-01-2011 to 31-12-2021 (N = 110,331). We included primary missions and excluded missions with National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics score (NACA) score 0 or 7, resulting in 68,333 missions for analysis...

BACKGROUND: An efficient first-aid system usually supports ground services with a helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS). An HEMS is important for patients with acute chest pain on remote islands. The current study sought to identify the characteristics of HEMS in acute chest pain cases on the Croatian Adriatic islands over a four-year period. METHODS: We conducted a four-year observational study to investigate HEMS from Adriatic islands. The study population consisted of all patients with acute coronary syndrome or pulmonary embolisms who were urgently transferred by HEMS to the University Hospital in Split 1 June 2018-1 June 2022...

OBJECTIVES: National and regional systems for emergency medical care provision may differ greatly. We sought to determine whether or not physicians are utilized in prehospital care and to what extent they are present in differentEuropean countries. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We collected information on 32 European countries by reviewing publications and sending questionnaires to authors of relevant articles as well as to officials of ministries of health (or equivalent), representatives of national societies in emergency medicine, or well-known experts in the specialty...

OBJECTIVES: Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) throughout Europe are generally on scene within 10-15 minutes. In Norway, however, with its 13 HEMS bases, only 75% of the population can currently be reached within half an hour. We estimate the number of HEMS bases needed to reach the full Norwegian population within 10-15 minutes, and discuss implications regarding cost effectiveness. METHODS: Using geographic location and population characteristics from Norway's 428 municipalities as input to the Maximal Covering Location Problem-a mathematical location optimization model-we estimate the number of HEMS bases required along with accompanying personnel and healthcare costs...

OBJECTIVES: Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) have been integral to healthcare systems in developed countries and are becoming more relevant in developing countries. There is extremely scarce information available regarding the typical cost structure and dynamics of HEMS operation; thus, the limitation of knowledge may limit the shapers of national healthcare policy and potential private operators in starting such a service. This study aims to present the cost dynamics of HEMS operation...

PURPOSE: Emergency physicians are in danger of developing illnesses due to stress in their demanding work environment. Until today, scholars have not identified stressors or resilience factors that qualify to promote the preservation of emergency physicians' well-being. Therefore, potential influencing variables such as patients' diagnoses, the severity of diagnoses, as well as physicians' work experience have to be considered. The present study aims at investigating emergency physicians in the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS)' autonomic nervous system activity during emergency operations in one shift with respect to patients' diagnoses, severity of diagnoses, and physicians' work experience...

BACKGROUND: Pre-hospital application of a non-invasive pelvic binder device (NIPBD) is essential to increase chances of survival by limiting blood loss in patients with an unstable pelvic ring injury. However, unstable pelvic ring injuries are often not recognized during prehospital assessment. We investigated the prehospital (helicopter) emergency medical services ((H)EMS)' accuracy of the assessment of unstable pelvic ring injuries and NIPBD application rate. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study on all patients with a pelvic injury transported by (H)EMS to our level one trauma centre between 2012 and 2020...

OBJECTIVE: We analyzed helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) and ground emergency medical services (GEMS) crash data in the United States during 1983 to 2020 to compare incidences of total, fatal, and injury crashes. METHODS: HEMS and GEMS total, fatal, and injury crashes during 1983 to 2020 and 1988 to 2020, respectively, were analyzed in this retrospective study. Data were obtained from the National Transportation Safety Board and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration...

Background : Air rescue crew members work equally in aviation and medicine, and thus occupy an important interface between the two work environments of aviation and medicine. The aim of this study was to obtain responses from participants to a validated online-based questionnaire regarding whether hospitals may benefit from the commitment of a medical hospital staff which is also professionally involved in the aviation system as emergency physicians and Helicopter Emergency Medical Services Technical Crew Members (HEMS TC)...

BACKGROUND: Comparisons across trauma systems are key to identifying opportunities to improve trauma care. We aimed to compare trauma service structures, processes and outcomes between the English National Health Service (NHS) and the province of Quebec, Canada. METHODS: We conducted a multicentre cohort study including admissions of patients aged older than 15 years with major trauma to major trauma centres (MTCs) from 2014/15 to 2016/17. We compared structures descriptively, and time to MTC and time in the emergency department (ED) using Wilcoxon tests...

INTRODUCTION: The Assessment of Blood Consumption (ABC) score is a previously validated scoring system designed to predict which severely injured trauma patients will require massive transfusion. When the ABC score is used in the prehospital setting to activate massive transfusion at the receiving hospital, a 23% decrease in mortality has been demonstrated. However, the ABC score was developed and validated using hospital data from the emergency department (ED). The sensitivity and specificity of the ABC score when calculated using data from the prehospital setting are unknown...