TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2014//
TI  - Helicopter emergency medical service patient transport safe at night?
JO  - Air Medical Journal
A1  - Peters, Joost H.
A1  - van Wageningen, Bas
A1  - Hoogerwerf, Nico
A1  - Biert, Jan
SP  - 296
EP  - 298
VL  - 33
IS  - 6
N2  - OBJECTIVE: Dutch helicopter emergency medical services are available 24/7. Working without daylight brings additional challenges, both in patient care and in-flight operation. We retrospectively evaluated the safety of this nighttime helicopter transportation of patients. <br><br>METHODS: Our helicopter emergency medical service database was reviewed for all patients transported by helicopter during nighttime. Both interhospital transports and patients transported from the accident location to a hospital were included. The time traveled by helicopter was compared with the time that road transportation of these patients would have taken. <br><br>RESULTS: In total, 513 patients were transported by helicopter. Of these patients, 72 were transported during nighttime (14%); the median age was 25.3 years (range, 1.1-73.9 years). The median flight time to the hospital was 16 minutes (range, 5-42 minutes). To travel by road, this would have taken a median of approximately 44 minutes (range, 23-100 minutes). When comparing these travel times, a significantly faster transport time by helicopter during nighttime was observed (P <.001). Three non-flight-specific incidents were noted. <br><br>CONCLUSION: We conclude that helicopter transportation of patients without daylight is safe and fast in a Dutch setting.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1067-991X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amj.2014.07.021
ID  - ref1
ER  -