Helicopter versus ground emergency medical services for the transportation of traumatically injured children.

BACKGROUND

Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) are a common mode of transportation for pediatric trauma patients. We hypothesized that HEMS improve outcomes for traumatically injured children compared to ground emergency medical services (GEMS).

METHODS

We queried trauma registries of two level 1 pediatric trauma centers for children 0-17 years, treated from 2003 to 2013, transported by HEMS or GEMS, with known transport starting location and outcome. A geocoding service estimated travel distance and time. Multivariate regression analyses were performed to adjust for injury severity variables and travel distance/time.

RESULTS

We identified 14,405 traumatically injured children; 3870 (26.9%) transported by HEMS and 10,535 (73.1%) transported by GEMS. Transport type was not significantly associated with survival, ICU length of stay, or discharge disposition. Transport by GEMS was associated with a 68.6%-53.1% decrease in hospital length of stay, depending on adjustment for distance/time. Results were similar for children with severe injuries, and with propensity score matched cohorts. Of note, 862/3850 (22.3%) of HEMS transports had an ISS<10 and hospitalization<1 day.

CONCLUSIONS

HEMS do not independently improve outcomes for traumatically injured children, and 22.3% of children transported by HEMS are not significantly injured. These factors should be considered when requesting HEMS for transport of traumatically injured children.