Interfacility Helicopter Transport to a Tertiary Pediatric Trauma Center
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Read the article on jpedsurg.org ↗Article · May 2022 · 1 min read
In brief
In brief
Retrospective study of 1,003 helicopter and 7,829 ground interfacility transports to a pediatric trauma center found that only 1.3% of helicopter patients required emergent OR intervention within 1 hour, despite higher injury severity scores. The findings suggest potential overtriage in helicopter transport utilization for pediatric trauma cases.
Written by the GCMD Library team from the article.
Background
Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) are intended to expedite care to definitive management. Studies are inconclusive in demonstrating appropriate use. We aimed to examine emergent interventions after interfacility helicopter transport (IHT) to our pediatric trauma center.
Methods
Trauma patients 0-18 years undergoing IHT or interfacility ground transport (IGT) to our institution from January 2011-December 2020 were studied. We evaluated the rate of IHT patients undergoing emergent (1 hour), urgent (6 hours), and semi-urgent (48 hours) operating room (OR) intervention compared to IGT as a measure of appropriate transport.
Results
Inclusion was met by 1003 IHT and 7829 IGT patients. OR intervention was required in 29.6% of IHT patients, emergent in 1.3%, urgent in 12.6%, and semi-urgent in 10.6%. Overall, IHT patients had higher mean injury severity score (ISS; IHT:14.5; SD:11.0 vs. IGT:6.0; SD:5.0; p