Elsevier

Air Medical Journal

Volume 37, Issue 1, January–February 2018, Pages 29-36
Air Medical Journal

Original Research
Does Medical Staffing Influence Perceived Safety? An International Survey on Medical Crew Models in Helicopter Emergency Medical Services

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amj.2017.09.008Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • Perceived safety is higher when helicopter emergency medical service crews are staffed with a dual medical crew.

  • A higher degree of perceived safety was found when a physician was part of this crew.

  • Tradition and scientific evidence are the most common reasons for the choice of crew.

Abstract

Objective

The competence, composition, and number of crewmembers have generally been considered to influence the degree of patient care and safety in helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS), but evidence to support the advantages of one crew concept over another is ambiguous; additionally, the benefit of physicians as crewmembers is still highly debated.

Methods

To compare perceived safety in different medical crew models, we surveyed international HEMS medical directors regarding the types of crew compositions their system currently used and their supportive rationales and to evaluate patient and flight safety within their services.

Results

Perceived patient and flight safety is higher when HEMS is staffed with a dual medical crew in the cabin. Tradition and scientific evidence are the most common reasons for the choice of medical crew. Most respondents would rather retain their current crew configuration, but some would prefer to add a physician or supplement the physician with an assistant in the cabin.

Conclusion

Our survey shows a wide variety of medical staffing models in HEMS and indicates that these differences are mainly related to medical competencies and the availability of an assistant in the medical cabin. The responses suggest that differences in medical staffing influence perceived flight and patient safety.

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