Reduced Mortality in Severely Injured Patients Using Hospital-based Helicopter Emergency Medical Services in Interhospital Transport

Abstract

Recent evidence has demonstrated the survival benefits of helicopter transport for trauma patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of hospital-based helicopter emergency medical services (H-HEMS) in comparison with ground ambulance transport in improving mortality outcomes in patients with major trauma. Study participants were divided into 2 groups according to type of transport to the trauma center; that is, either via ground emergency medical services (GEMS) or via H-HEMS. The study was conducted from October 2013 to July 2015. Mortality outcomes in the H-HEMS group were compared with those in the GEMS group by using the Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS) analysis. The number of participants finally included in the study was 312. Among these patients, 63 were adult major trauma patients transported via H-HEMS, and 47.6% were involved in traffic accidents. For interhospital transport, the Z and W statistics revealed significantly higher scores in the H-HEMS group than in the GEMS group (Z statistic, 2.02 vs. 1.16; P = 0.043 vs. 0.246; W statistic, 8.87 vs. 2.85), and 6.02 more patients could be saved per 100 patients when H-HEMS was used for transportation. TRISS analysis revealed that the use of H-HEMS for transporting adult major trauma patients was associated with significantly improved survival compared to the use of GEMS.

Clinical predictors of outcomes in patients undergoing emergency air medical transport from Kinmen to Taiwan

“…Previous reports also demonstrated the beneficial impact of EAMT on mortality in severe blunt trauma [ 2 ] and seriously injured patient. [ 3 , 4 , 21 , 22 ] The utilization of EAMT for patients with serious traumatic injuries may be expensive, but it is justified by its cost-effectiveness [ 23 ] and the low in-hospital mortality observed in our study. Our study also concurred with the Japanese study by Ohara et al on the safety and usefulness of emergency maternal transport using helicopter.…”

Analysis of accessibility to emergency rooms by dynamic population from mobile phone data: Geography of social inequity in South Korea

“…For example, some individuals in South Korea cannot have their medical care needs met, due to the lack of geographical accessibility of medical services, although most public healthcare services have been held accountable by the Korean government for a long time [2]. Recent studies found that the probability of mortality after an emergency was affected by the distance from an emergency hospital [3,4]. Social inequity in public health has been a challenging issue in social and community welfare, and many researchers have examined the geographical aspects of such an issue [5,6].…”

HEMS inter-facility transfer: a case-mix analysis

“…affected by mountains, water), the probability that HEMS may be faster is high. Regarding this issue, some have proposed using distances between hospitals or the expected duration of transfer to justify the use of HEMS [ 15 , 16 ], but there is no consensus on a cut-off distance or time for which the helicopter should be used [ 5 ]. Kristiansen et al showed an increase in the use of HEMS proportional to the distance to be covered, and a decrease in mortality for transfers by HEMS ≥100 km [ 15 ].…”

“…Kristiansen et al showed an increase in the use of HEMS proportional to the distance to be covered, and a decrease in mortality for transfers by HEMS ≥100 km [ 15 ]. Another study recommends considering HEMS for distances ≥30 km by road for IFT [ 16 ]. If we transpose these values to our study, we note that 738 (75%) missions were above the 30 km proposed limit, and 70 (7%) above the 100 km limit.…”