ArticleCritical care (London, England)2013
Survival benefit of helicopter emergency medical services compared to ground emergency medical services in traumatized patients.
Article in Critical care (London, England), 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
67 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Transport and destination hospital for patients with suspected multiple and/or severe injuries - a systematic review and clinical practice guideline update.European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society · 2026Pooled it
- Helicopter emergency medical services for adults with major trauma.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015Pooled it
- Electrostatic Discharge During Helicopter Hoist Operations: A Nationwide Prospective Study of the Norwegian Search and Rescue Service.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2026Article
- Differences in call profiles, interventions and physician staffing between ground and helicopter emergency medical services in Austria : A sub-analysis of the Austrian Emergency Day 2024 audit.Wiener klinische Wochenschrift · 2026Observational
- Association between prehospital time and mortality in severe trauma: a restricted cubic spline analysis from a physician-staffed helicopter emergency medical service.BMC emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Establishing a Consensus-Based Definition of Air Medical Transport Need for Rural Patients After Injury: Results from a Delphi Survey.Prehospital emergency care · 2026Article
- HEMS and the challenges of an aging population: a nationwide study of interventions.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Helicopter emergency medical services for elderly patients: clinical outcomes and disease patterns.BMC emergency medicine · 2025Observational
- Identifying patients transported by helicopter emergency medical services using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11: a scoping review.BMC emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Independence of the mortality of severely injured patients from types of transport and hospital level in a well-developed trauma network.European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society · 2025Article
- Regional retrospective observational analysis of the impact of enhanced care teams on trauma morbidity and mortality outcomes.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2025Observational
- Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Use of Helicopter Transport After Severe Trauma in the US.JAMA surgery · 2025Article
- "Reality shock"-a qualitative exploration of helicopter emergency medical services nurses' challenges and experiences in China.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- The characteristics and clinical outcomes of trauma patients transferred by a physician-staffed helicopter emergency medical service in Korea: a retrospective study.Journal of trauma and injury · 2024Article
- Mortality rates in Norwegian HEMS-a retrospective analysis from Central Norway.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Effectiveness of road safety interventions: An evidence and gap map.Campbell systematic reviews · 2024Article
- [Prehospital management in trauma patients and the increasing number of helicopter EMS transportations : An epidemiological study of the TraumaRegister DGU®].Unfallchirurgie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2024Article
- Trauma patient transport to hospital using helicopter emergency medical services or road ambulance in Sweden: a comparison of survival and prehospital time intervals.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2023Article
- Outcomes of prehospital traumatic cardiac arrest managed by helicopter emergency medical service personnel in Japan: a registry data analysis.International journal of emergency medicine · 2023Article
- Helicopter Ambulance Transport to the Emergency Department: Demographic and Clinical Factors Impacting Outcomes in a Turkish Medical Center.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2023Article
7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionPhysician-staffed helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) are a well-established component of prehospital trauma care in Germany. Reduced rescue times and increased catchment area represent presumable specific advantages of HEMS. In contrast, the availability of HEMS is connected to a high financial burden and depends on the weather, day time and controlled visual flight rules. To date, clear evidence regarding the beneficial effects of HEMS in terms of improved clinical outcome has remained elusive.
methodsTraumatized patients (Injury Severity Score; ISS≥9) primarily treated by HEMS or ground emergency medical services (GEMS) between 2007 and 2009 were analyzed using the TraumaRegister DGU® of the German Society for Trauma Surgery. Only patients treated in German level I and II trauma centers with complete data referring to the transportation mode were included. Complications during hospital treatment included sepsis and organ failure according to the criteria of the American College of Chest Physicians/Society of Critical Care Medicine (ACCP/SCCM) consensus conference committee and the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score.
resultsA total of 13,220 patients with traumatic injuries were included in the present study. Of these, 62.3% (n=8,231) were transported by GEMS and 37.7% (n=4,989) by HEMS. Patients treated by HEMS were more seriously injured compared to GEMS (ISS 26.0 vs. 23.7, P<0.001) with more severe chest and abdominal injuries. The extent of medical treatment on-scene, which involved intubation, chest and treatment with vasopressors, was more extensive in HEMS (P<0.001) resulting in prolonged on-scene time (39.5 vs. 28.9 minutes, P<0.001). During their clinical course, HEMS patients more frequently developed multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) (HEMS: 33.4% vs. GEMS: 25.0%; P<0.001) and sepsis (HEMS: 8.9% vs. GEMS: 6.6%, P<0.001) resulting in an increased length of ICU treatment and in-hospital time (P<0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis found that after adjustment by 11 other variables the odds ratio for mortality in HEMS was 0.75 (95% CI: 0.636 to 862).
conclusionsAlthough HEMS patients were more seriously injured and had a significantly higher incidence of MODS and sepsis, these patients demonstrated a survival benefit compared to GEMS.
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