Helicopter Emergency

Background/Objectives: Severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a frequent cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In the Netherlands, suspected TBI is a criterion for the dispatch of the physician-staffed helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) which are operational 24 h per day. It is unknown if patient outcome is influenced by the time of day during which the incident occurs. Therefore, we investigated the association between the time of day of the prehospital treatment of severe TBI and 30-day mortality...

BACKGROUND: Increasing mountain activity and decreasing participant preparedness, as well as climate change, suggest needs to tailor mountain rescue. In Sweden, previous medical research of these services are lacking. The aim of the study is to describe Swedish mountain rescue missions as a basis for future studies, public education, resource allocation, and rescuer training. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of all mission reports in the national Swedish Police Registry on Mountain Rescue 2018-2022 (n = 1543)...

BACKGROUND: The utility of resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) in children remains unclear. CASE PRESENTATION: An 11-year-old patient with liver trauma with massive extravasation was transported to a local hospital, where an emergency trauma surgery was unavailable. Following the placement of REBOA as a bridge to hemostasis, she was transferred to our hospital by a firefighting helicopter with balloon occlusion. Immediately, she underwent damage control laparotomy and transcatheter arterial embolization...

BACKGROUND: Severity of illness scoring systems are used in intensive care units to enable the calculation of adjusted outcomes for audit and benchmarking purposes. Similar tools are lacking for pre-hospital emergency medicine. Therefore, using a national helicopter emergency medical services database, we developed and internally validated a mortality prediction algorithm. METHODS: We conducted a multicentre retrospective observational register-based cohort study based on the patients treated by five physician-staffed Finnish helicopter emergency medical service units between 2012 and 2019...

BACKGROUND: The use of emergency medical services (EMS) in Germany has increased substantially over the last few decades. While current reform efforts aim to increase effectiveness and efficiency of the German hospital and EMS systems, there is lack of data on characteristics of hospital cases using EMS. OBJECTIVES: To analyze and compare the characteristics of cases hospitalized with and without the use of EMS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The BARMER health insurance data on more than 2 million hospital cases admitted in 2022 were analyzed...

BACKGROUND: The likelihood of return of spontaneous circulation with conventional advanced life support is known to have an exponential decline and therefore neurological outcome after 20 min in patients with a cardiac arrest is poor. Initiation of venoarterial ExtraCorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) during resuscitation might improve outcomes if used in time and in a selected patient category. However, previous studies have failed to significantly reduce the time from cardiac arrest to ECMO flow to less than 60 min...

BACKGROUND: In Finland, the yearly number of mechanical thrombectomies for acute stroke is increasing and more patients are transported over 100 km to the comprehensive stroke centre (CSC) for definitive care. This leaves the rural townships without immediate emergency medical services (EMS) for hours. In this study we compare the EMS' estimated return times to own station after the handover of a thrombectomy candidate between two transport methods: (1) using ground transportation with an ambulance to the CSC or (2) using a hydrid strategy starting the transportation with an ambulance and continuing by air with a helicopter emergency medical services unit (HEMS)...

BACKGROUND: Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) provide rapid and specialized care to critically ill or injured patients. Norwegian HEMS in Central Norway serves an important role in pre-hospital emergency medical care. To grade the severity of patients, HEMS uses the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics' (NACA) severity score. The objective of this study was to describe the short- and long term mortality overall and in each NACA-group for patients transported by HEMS Trondheim using linkage of HEMS and hospital data...

Helicopter parenting, a parenting style defined by over-involvement, may lead to poor health outcomes. However, research has primarily focused on children and adolescents from White, high socio-economic families, with little research examining weight-related health or with emerging adult children. The current study examined associations with emerging adult diet, physical activity, and body mass index (BMI) among a diverse population-based sample of parent and emerging adult dyads ( n = 919). Helicopter parenting was highest among lower socioeconomic households and those identifying as Black, Indigenous, or people of color...

BACKGROUND: Recent research has indicated that sex is an important determinant of emergency medical response in patients with possible serious injuries. Men were found to receive more advanced prehospital treatment and more helicopter transportation and trauma centre destinations and were more often received by an activated trauma team, even when adjusted for injury mechanism. Emergency medical dispatchers choose initial resources when serious injury is suspected after a call to the emergency medical communication centre...

Outcomes after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) remain poor in the UK. In order to increase the chances of successful resuscitation, international society guidelines on cardiopulmonary resuscitation quality have recommended titration of chest compression parameters and vasopressor administration to arterial diastolic blood pressure if invasive catheters are in situ at the time of cardiac arrest. However, prehospital initiation of arterial and central venous catheterisation is seldom undertaken due to the risks and significant technical challenges in the context of ongoing resuscitation in this environment...

INTRODUCTION: Occupational noise exposure is a major public health concern, impacting a large workforce worldwide. In this study, we sought to evaluate the serum concentrations of prestin, a cochlear protein that diminishes following noise exposure, and otolin-1, a protein secreted into the bloodstream subsequent to inner ear damage, among three diverse professional categories, each exposed to varying degrees of noise. Helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) pilots and construction workers were considered high-risk groups due to their elevated exposure to occupational noise, whereas office workers were regarded as a low-risk group, reflecting their comparatively minimal noise exposure...

PURPOSE: For optimal prehospital trauma care, it is essential to adequately recognize potential life-threatening injuries in order to correctly triage patients and to initiate life-saving measures. The aim of the present study was to determine the accuracy of prehospital diagnoses suspected by helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS). METHODS: This retrospective multicenter study included patients from the Swiss Trauma Registry with ISS ≥ 16 or AIS head ≥ 3 transported by Switzerland's largest HEMS and subsequently admitted to one of twelve Swiss trauma centers from 01/2020 to 12/2020...

Objective In this study, we investigated the factors related to anemia and platelet reduction in patients with moderate to severe trauma to gain a deeper understanding of these phenomena. Methods Our study spanned the period from April 2021 to September 2023, and it involved a retrospective review of the hospital medical charts of all emergency outpatients of all ages who were transported by a physician-staffed helicopter and treated at our hospital and were diagnosed with an Injury Severity Score (ISS) of >8 by CT on arrival...

To address the lagging status of aviation medical rescue in China compared to developed countries, the focus is on critical weaknesses such as the inadequate aviation rescue communication network and communication technology. The team has established an efficient network among rescue helicopters, emergency centers, and hospitals using 5G technology, achieving millisecond-level speed and real-time data transmission. The Professional Committee of Emergency Resuscitation and Disaster Medicine of Chinese Medical Doctor Association integrated emergency experts, medical institutions, and emergency rescue teams to jointly draft Chinese expert consensus on 5G+ helicopter aviation medical rescue (2024 edition)...

OBJECTIVE: Ventilator-assisted preoxygenation (VAPOX) is a method of preoxygenation and apnoeic ventilation which has been tried in hospital setting. We aimed to describe VAPOX during intubation of critically unwell patients in aeromedical retrieval setting. METHODS: Retrospective observational study of VAPOX performed at LifeFlight Retrieval Medicine (LRM) between January 2018 and December 2022 across Queensland, Australia. Demographic and clinical data were recorded...

BACKGROUND: Recently, the Norwegian Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) has developed a procedure for a special type of static rope rescue operation, referred to as the offset technique. In this technique, the helicopter is offset from the accident site, and the HEMS technical crew member uses an offset throw line to gain access to the scene. Today, there is little practical experience of such operations, and a need has been identified for more knowledge on the potential hazards encountered during this type of operation...

OBJECTIVE: Recent systematic reviews of acute care medicine applications of artificial intelligence (AI) have focused on hospital and general prehospital uses. The purpose of this scoping review was to identify and describe the literature on AI use with a focus on applications in helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS). METHODS: A literature search was performed with specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. Articles were grouped by characteristics such as publication year and general subject matter with categoric and temporal trend analyses...

This is a case of a 34-year-old man surviving hypothermic cardiac arrest with excellent neurologic recovery in Nepal. After 3 days without communication at an altitude of approximately 6,000 m, the patient was located in a crevasse and retrieved by a helicopter-supported search and rescue team. At first contact, he was reported to be breathing and shivering with appropriate pupillary response. The patient was then flown to a local teaching hospital where he was assessed on arrival and found to be in cardiac arrest with absence of spontaneous breathing and a central pulse and bilaterally fixed and dilated pupils...

OBJECTIVE: Desaturation during prehospital rapid sequence intubation (RSI) is common and is associated with patient morbidity. Past studies have identified oxygen saturations at induction, the grade of laryngoscopy, and multiple attempts to intubate as being associated with desaturation. This study aimed to investigate whether there are other factors, identifiable before RSI, associated with desaturation. METHODS: This was a study of a physician-paramedic critical care team operating as Aeromedical Operations, NSW Ambulance...