Air medical journal
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Air medical journal · May 2014
Evaluation of Dutch Helicopter Emergency Medical Services in transporting children.
In the Netherlands, helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) function as an adjunct to paramedic ambulance service delivering hospital-level medical care to a prehospital location. The main goal of Dutch HEMS is to provide on-scene medical expertise and not primarily to serve as transport. The transportation of patients to specialized hospitals is sometimes mandatory, especially in cases of critically ill or wounded children. In the literature, no support can be found to support the safety of transportation by helicopter. We retrospectively evaluated the safety of this type of transportation and if any problems were encountered transporting children by helicopter. ⋯ We conclude that transporting children by helicopter is a safe method of transportation for critically ill children to adequately equipped medical centers.