Someone Explain To Me Again…

The easy answer to your initial question?She didn’t.Helicopters themselves are safe.EMS helicopters, as you have pointed out many times, are misused, as are ground ambulances.I fly way too many patients that don’t need to be flown. But let ONE that needs to be flown die because someone made a poor decision and there’ll be hell to pay.As is the case with politics and so many other areas these days, attorneys have screwed us.Oversimplified?Maybe.Wanta argue?

The easy answer to your initial question?She didn’t.Helicopters themselves are safe.EMS helicopters, as you have pointed out many times, are misused, as are ground ambulances.I fly way too many patients that don’t need to be flown. But let ONE that needs to be flown die because someone made a poor decision and there’ll be hell to pay.As is the case with politics and so many other areas these days, attorneys have screwed us.Oversimplified?Maybe.Wanta argue?

“I fly way too many patients that don’t need to be flown. But let ONE that needs to be flown die because someone made a poor decision and there’ll be hell to pay.”No argument there, Greybeard. But ultimately, we’ve got to come up with better criteria for EMS helicopter flights, and it should <>not<> be mechanism-based criteria, and only for the truly time-sensitive cases.Case in point: a couple weeks back we flew a burn patient to a regional burn center. There is <>NO<> reason to fly a hemodynamically stable burn patient. The damage has been done, and there is nothing time-sensitive about the treatment from there.My personal opinion is that we need to a) plant a boot in the ass of lazy ground providers who call birds because they’d rather not drive an hour, b) use dual pilots and instrument-capable birds with night-vision capability, and c) better educate ground EMS crews and ER docs as to appropriate uses of HEMS transport.If we don’t do that soon, the politicians are going to do it for us. And you know how that usually turns out.

reason to fly a hemodynamically stable burn patient. The damage has been done, and there is nothing time-sensitive about the treatment from there.My personal opinion is that we need to a) plant a boot in the ass of lazy ground providers who call birds because they’d rather not drive an hour, b) use dual pilots and instrument-capable birds with night-vision capability, and c) better educate ground EMS crews and ER docs as to appropriate uses of HEMS transport.If we don’t do that soon, the politicians are going to do it for us. And you know how that usually turns out.

But AD, if they do all that, how the heck are they supposed to make any money?

But AD, if they do all that, how the heck are they supposed to make any money?

I actually was a seizure patient that went by Flight for Life when I was a kid. I’m thinking they saw something they didn’t like and decided to airlift me and get there ASAP. Plus If I recall correctly, it was to a hospital that specialized in that sort of thing that was more out of the way.

I actually was a seizure patient that went by Flight for Life when I was a kid. I’m thinking they saw something they didn’t like and decided to airlift me and get there ASAP. Plus If I recall correctly, it was to a hospital that specialized in that sort of thing that was more out of the way.

The article said that the baby needed a pediatric ICU. Doesn’t sound like a simple seizure patient to me.

The article said that the baby needed a pediatric ICU. Doesn’t sound like a simple seizure patient to me.

All I know is that all of you EMS-types are heroes! Saving lives may be “what you do”, but sometimes risks have to be assessed and difficult choices made. If I’d been transported by chopper when I keeled over awhile back, I would have been thoroughly *pissed*. Flight conditions at the destination site were questionable. My survival WAS NOT worth the risk to the flight crew.Maybe I have a different outlook on things, but if saving me means potential death for (or significant injury to) my rescuers? Pray for my soul if you wish, but just let me die. I’ll be worm food some day anyway. lol

All I know is that all of you EMS-types are heroes! Saving lives may be “what you do”, but sometimes risks have to be assessed and difficult choices made. If I’d been transported by chopper when I keeled over awhile back, I would have been thoroughly *pissed*. Flight conditions at the destination site were questionable. My survival WAS NOT worth the risk to the flight crew.Maybe I have a different outlook on things, but if saving me means potential death for (or significant injury to) my rescuers? Pray for my soul if you wish, but just let me die. I’ll be worm food some day anyway. lol

Anonymous 11:48:Almost every pediatric patient with new onset of seizures will be admitted to a PICU. That’s pretty much the norm.But flying one, as opposed to driving them to the PICU, would only be necessary presuming the flight crew can do something about controlling those seizures that the ground crew can’t, or that admission to the PICU is time-sensitive.Neither of these things is usually the case.

Anonymous 11:48:Almost every pediatric patient with new onset of seizures will be admitted to a PICU. That’s pretty much the norm.But flying one, as opposed to driving them to the PICU, would only be necessary presuming the flight crew can do something about controlling those seizures that the ground crew can’t, or that admission to the PICU is time-sensitive.Neither of these things is usually the case.

The child did not have new onset seizures as the grandmother stated. The child could have possibly been one of those very sickly babies who are cared for at home instead of a care home. You know the ones, cerebral palsy, profound mental retardation, trached, extremely high incidence of seizures. In my experience, these children get septic very easily and require fast transport to a PICU as they are usually on pressors. Just as a medic’s goal is to transport a patient to the nearest ED as quickly as possible, it is the goal of the ED and the hospital to get a very sick patient to the appropriate ICU as quickly as possible as there is usually a much better outcome when this occurs.

The child did not have new onset seizures as the grandmother stated. The child could have possibly been one of those very sickly babies who are cared for at home instead of a care home. You know the ones, cerebral palsy, profound mental retardation, trached, extremely high incidence of seizures. In my experience, these children get septic very easily and require fast transport to a PICU as they are usually on pressors. Just as a medic’s goal is to transport a patient to the nearest ED as quickly as possible, it is the goal of the ED and the hospital to get a very sick patient to the appropriate ICU as quickly as possible as there is usually a much better outcome when this occurs.