Emergency medical services (EMS) helicopters are not necessarily the quickest means of transporting critically ill patients to hospitals, according to a study by a group of U.S. researchers.1
Weather is often to blame for the extra time required for flights conducted under instrument flight rules (IFR), according to a report on the study, published in the February issue of Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance. The report said that flights in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) typically were accompanied by increased dispatch times, compared with both visual flight rules flights and ground transport.
“The increase is likely a result of weather check, filing an IFR flight plan and IFR release,” the report said.
The report cited an earlier study that have found that patients typically can be transported more quickly on an EMS helicopter than by ambulances on the ground, with a resulting 13 percent reduction in mortality. Another study concluded th…
