Division of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Perioperative Services, Landspitali-The National University Hospital of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 2024 Nov;68(10):1494-1503. doi: 10.1111/aas.14509. Epub 2024 Aug 7.
Helicopter emergency services (HEMS) are widely used to bring medical assistance to individuals that cannot be reached by other means or individuals that have time-critical medical conditions, such as chest pain, stroke or severe trauma. It is a very expensive resource whose use and importance depends on local conditions. The aim of this study was to describe flight and patient characteristics in all HEMS flights done in Iceland, a geographically isolated, mountainous and sparsely populated country, over a 5-year course.
This retrospective study included all individuals requiring HEMS transportation in Iceland during 2018-2022. The electronic database of the Icelandic Coast Guard was used to identify the individuals and register flight data. Electronic databases from Landspitali and Akureyri hospitals were used to collect clinical variables. Descriptive statistics was applied.
The average number of HEMS transports was 3.5/10,000 inhabitants and the median [IQR] activation time and flight times were 30 min [20-42] and 40 min [26-62] respectively. The vast majority of patients were transported to Landspitali Hospital in Reykjavik. More than half of the transports were due to trauma, the most common medical transports were due to chest pain or cardiac arrests. Advanced medical therapy was provided for 66 (10%) of individuals during primary transports, 157 (24%) of individuals were admitted to intensive care, 188 (28%) needed surgery and 53 (7.9%) needed a coronary angiography.
In Iceland, the number of transports is lower but activation and flight times for HEMS flights are considerably longer than in other Nordic countries, likely due to geographical features and the structure of the service including utilizing helicopters both for HEMS and search and rescue operations. The transport times for some time-sensitive conditions are not within standards set by international studies and guidelines.
直升机紧急医疗服务（HEMS）广泛用于为无法通过其他方式到达或患有时间紧迫的医疗状况（如胸痛、中风或严重创伤）的个人提供医疗援助。这是一种非常昂贵的资源，其使用和重要性取决于当地的情况。本研究的目的是描述在冰岛进行的所有 HEMS 航班的飞行和患者特征，冰岛是一个地理位置偏远、多山和人口稀少的国家，历时 5 年。
本回顾性研究包括 2018 年至 2022 年期间在冰岛需要 HEMS 转运的所有个人。使用冰岛海岸警卫队的电子数据库来识别个人并登记飞行数据。使用 Landspitali 和 Akureyri 医院的电子数据库收集临床变量。应用描述性统计。
HEMS 转运的平均人数为每 10,000 名居民 3.5 人，中位[IQR]激活时间和飞行时间分别为 30 分钟[20-42]和 40 分钟[26-62]。绝大多数患者被转运到雷克雅未克的 Landspitali 医院。超过一半的转运是由于创伤，最常见的医疗转运是由于胸痛或心脏骤停。在最初的转运中，有 66 人（10%）接受了高级医疗治疗，157 人（24%）入住重症监护病房，188 人（28%）需要手术，53 人（7.9%）需要进行冠状动脉造影。
在冰岛，转运的数量较少，但 HEMS 航班的激活和飞行时间比其他北欧国家长得多，这可能是由于地理位置特征和服务结构造成的，包括将直升机用于 HEMS 和搜索和救援行动。一些时间敏感条件的转运时间不符合国际研究和指南设定的标准。
