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Impact of introducing a major trauma network on a regional helicopter emergency medicine service in the UK
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McQueen, Carl, Crombie, N., Perkins, Gavin D. and Wheaton, S. (2013) Impact of introducing a major trauma network on a regional helicopter emergency medicine service in the UK. Emergency Medicine Journal, Volume 31 (Number 10). pp. 844-750. doi:10.1136/emermed-2013-202756 ISSN 1472-0205.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/emermed-2013-202756
Abstract
Introduction: In the West Midlands region of the UK, the delivery of prehospital trauma care has recently been remodelled through the introduction of a regionalised major trauma network (MTN). Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) are integral to the network, providing means of delivering highly skilled specialist teams to scenes of trauma and rapid transfer of patients to major trauma centres. This study reviews the impact of introducing the West Midlands MTN on the operation of one its regional HEMS units. Methods: Retrospective review of the Midlands Air Ambulance clinical database for the 6 months after the launch of the West Midlands MTN. The corresponding period for the previous year was reviewed for comparison. The contribution of trauma cases to overall workload, mission outcome data and the number of interventions performed at the scene were compared. Results: The proportion of HEMS activations for trauma cases was similar in both cohorts (70.84% before MTN vs 71.57% after MTN). The proportion of mission cancellations was significantly lower after the launch of the network (23.71% vs 19.03%). Significantly more scene attendances resulted in interventions by HEMS crews after the MTN launch (44.66% vs 56.92%). Conclusions: Since the introduction of the West Midlands MTN, tasking of HEMS assets appears to be better targeted to cases involving significant injury, and a reduction in mission cancellations has been observed. There is a need for more detailed evaluation of patient outcomes to identify strategies for optimising the utilisation of HEMS assets within the regional network.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Health Sciences Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School |
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| Journal or Publication Title: | Emergency Medicine Journal | ||||
| Publisher: | BMJ Group | ||||
| ISSN: | 1472-0205 | ||||
| Official Date: | 14 July 2013 | ||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | Volume 31 | ||||
| Number: | Number 10 | ||||
| Page Range: | pp. 844-750 | ||||
| DOI: | 10.1136/emermed-2013-202756 | ||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
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