Roles of a helicopter emergency medical service in mass casualty incidents

The Connecticut helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) has responded to 12 mass casualty incidents (MCI) in two years. Eight were drills and four were actual events. An MCI response plan was instituted prior to the onset of the HEMS program. All MCIs were reviewed to determine actual victims, knowledge of MCI prior to lift-off, and roles of the HEMS. The actual roles were compared with the pre-established roles. The four actual MCIs (building explosion, hotel fire, bus rollover and plane crash) were reviewed. Sixty-seven victims were involved. Prenotification occurred in one MCI. The roles of the HEMS in each MCI were: triage (n = 4), medical treatment (n = 4), transport (n = 3), augmented response (n = 1), and air surveillance (n = 0). The roles of HEMS response to MCI should be well-defined prior to an event. Air medical benefits include response within a large geographic area, highest level of prehospital medical care, identification of trauma receiving hospitals, and facilitation of transport.