Off-site helipad at trauma center

[LucidResq]

First the story:
Patients flown in on helicopter still need ambulance ride to ER

Now, what do you think?

I personally think that while the placement is far from ideal and likely detrimental to patients, this is the most concerning bit:

"A burn victim was flown to the hospital and the ambulance was not ready and waiting, according to Jacque Montgomery, director of UCH public relations. The flight nurse had to run into the hospital, get a stretcher, go back to the helicopter and then push the patient on the stretcher all the way to the emergency room."

If you're going to have a helipad off-site, you better have an ambulance there and ready to go. That's just sad.

 

[TheMowingMonk]

i dont see the point of an offsite helipad, kind defeats the purpose of the speed you get from taking a helicopter cause you loose time transfering between the helicopter and an ambulance, or from running to the hospital in that case.

 

[Ridryder911]

As a flight nurse, I can assure many that this is a common thing. I have had to await EMS units to transport patients to the ED from the helipad. In fact, I know more that are away from the ED in lieu of being attached.

R/r 911

 

[VentMedic]

Many helicopters have to land at airports which could be 15 - 30 minutes away. Some medical teams such as Transplant rely on fixed wing aircraft which must land at airports.

In city areas there is difficulty building helipads. Zoning laws and existing structures may be inadequate for roof top landing or the available space presents hazards.

San Francisco has no helipads at any of their hospitals including their trauma center. Miami has an abundance of helipads but that city had room to grow with more wide open spaces.

There is still an advantage even if there is extra transit time. If it is a possible re-attachment situation for fingers or limbs, then the most appropriate facility should be reached regardless of how. Burns are also a specialty that should get to a burn center. Congenital heart anomalies are another crucial area that require specialization as well as other pediatric situations. Even for a scene call with HEMS transport, the flight team will remain with the patient until they are inside the ED. If the patient was to be dropped at a non-trauma center with a helipad, there would be additional risks with doing a ground CCT.

A trip across the street is not really that much of an inconvenience when you consider the benefits of being at the most appropriate facility.

The time is not always wasted. If a good report is called from the field or sending facility, the appropriate in hospital teams are mobilized and services freed up. Even in the best of trauma centers, the initial medical personnel may be present but many others are required to get the entire process in motion. CT scan and other diagnostics as well as the OR teams may be working on other trauma patients with a backlog of other emergent cases. It is not always as you see it on TV where everything stops to focus on 1 trauma. That is why some trauma centers such as Ryder at Jackson Memorial in Miami have a free standing trauma center. The trauma and in house emergencies don't interfere with each other.

Throughout the years I have been part of transport teams that served South America and many islands. These trips could take up to 24 hours in total time. The patients have included neonates, pediatric illnesses and trauma, burns and amputations. I've transported to and from the airport using some very primitive transportation when compared to ambulances in the U.S.

"It was a miscommunication and human error,"

I think that pretty much sums up the incident in the article and any incident that is similar. We know the arrival times of our aircraft and really hate having a helicopter from a neighboring region park itself on our helipad unannounced which has happened on a few occasions.

 

[BossyCow]

The location of the hospital we transport to can sometimes mean the helo can't land due to winds off the water. When this happens, they have to land either at the coastguard station, or the local airport.

Sometimes, circumstances can make a transport more of a challenge. Remember, the ideal is not the minimum standard, the just the direction we are supposed to aim at.

 

[Jon]

The transport company I work for keeps a rig posted at a local community hospital for this reason. We get the call whenever the ED is transferring a patient out on a helicopter... it is easy money... watch the pretty helicopter land, pickup the flight crew, drive them across the (really big) parking lot, package the patient, drive them back across the parking lot and watch the pretty helicopter lift off.

When we are not nearby, there is a local 911 squad based on hospital property that handles the transfers.