Have a copter, now must use it?

[FF894]

Very true point. Some helicopters are smoother than a medium duty ambulance. But I also believe that these trucks have absolutely no business being mounted and sold as ambulances. They are too big, bulky, their center of gravity is unsafe, they are not cost effective, and they are, plain and simple, too much truck.

There is no contradiction in my post. Air medical transportation is designed for speed, plain and simple. But when your local ground EMS cannot properly utilize the resource as recent studies have shown (such as flying patients on MOI alone), then you wind up transporting stable, not medically necessary patients. Thus, we wait.........
Most air services cannot currently refuse patients once patient contact has been made. That will hopefully soon change with the continued pressure from state and federal agencies to clean up our safety record. In the mean time, we get triaged just like the next guy................

I agree with the first part. Most fire departments buy them for size and weight of equipment they are carrying.

Second part, if you put it that way I get what you are saying. Up here though, there is very little triaging. Even if it is a bogus flight they still get the same attention as the real one (although the crew will notify the receiving hospital that no special teams/equipment is necessary.) Most likely they are downgraded quickly to a regular bed (or hallway.)

 

[rescuecpt]

Around here we don't use helos. We have a couple Level 1 trauma centers 10-15 minutes away.

For those of you that use helocopters, is there any pressure to use them? I'm wondering if now that you have them in the system, is there pressure to send pts via that route to justify their purchase and make the extra $?

It may be a stupid question, but I'm just wondering.

No pressure that I've noticed. In fact, many are hesitant to call the chopper because they don't want to look dumb if the flight medic doesn't think the patient is as bad as the ground crew thinks... It comes down to knowing the flight protocols and whether someone fits them. Or if you're a cop or firefighter, then you get flown for a sprained ankle.

 

[kevinemt662c]

In NY we use them based on protocols around MOI. Mortorcycle crashes are automatic, death in same compartment, fall of 15 ft or more etc. No pressure though. I don't think. Unless I just haven't seen it yet. All helos I've seen so far were well justified.