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Published on: February 13, 2014
Improved flight following through continuous quality improvement
N H Benson1, R C Hunt, J Tolson
1Department of Emergency Medicine, East Carolina University School of Medicine, Greenville, NC 27858.
Introduction:
Flight following is a key component of an air medical transport service's safety program. National standards require conscientious adherence to flight following. EastCare monitored its compliance with internal flight-following requirements for three years.
Setting:
EastCare is a single-helicopter, hospital-based air medical transport service located in a rural region of the southeastern United States. It has a full-time staff of flight nurses, pilots and communications specialists.
Methods:
A continuous quality improvement (CQI) process was initiated to delineate specific areas requiring improvement. These areas were discussed at the air medical service's monthly CQI meetings.
Results:
In 1989, the communications specialists achieved flight following intervals of < or = 15 minutes in 98% of attempts. In 1990 and 1991, the frequency of flight-following intervals of < or = 15 minutes were 98.8% and 99.6%, respectively. The CQI process pointed out educational requirements, technological problems and other areas for improvement.
Conclusion:
The use of a structured CQI process for this service directly contributed to consistently strong compliance in the frequency of flight following.
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