Effects of a continuous quality improvement program on helicopter liftoff times

The continuous quality improvement (CQI) process addresses concerns from a systems approach, employing committees of employees rather than selected management personnel to identify and solve problems, improve patient care and efficiency, and enhance customer satisfaction. Little is known about the effects of the CQI process on an aeromedical program.

To create a CQI program within an aeromedical program and to investigate its effect on helicopter liftoff times for scene responses.

A CQI program was established at a busy aeromedical service that completed 897 missions in the previous year. A concern identified by the CQI committee was delays in helicopter liftoff time after receipt of mission requests for scene responses. Each component necessary for liftoff (dispatch, pilot weather check, and crew response) was identified, time limits were set for each, new procedures were developed, and all staff received training on the new procedures. Computer tracking of each of the identified component times allowed comparison of data pre and post procedure implementation of the CQI-developed procedures.

After CQI changes in procedures were implemented, there were a total of 30 delays out of 323 calls (9% of liftoffs for on-scene flights). This represents a 6% reduction in total delays. The largest drop in component times was observed in crew response (2.6%). An unanticipated 10% drop in response times for interhospital liftoffs also occurred, presumably due to heightened awareness of the service to response times in general.

These findings suggest that employing a program utilizing CQI concepts can shorten helicopter liftoff times and improve response times in aeromedical programs.