The revised trauma score: a means to evaluate aeromedical staffing patterns

The myriad of crew configurations used in the transport of patients by aeromedical services have not been subject to objective measures of patient status before and after transport as a means of evaluating their contribution to patient care. This work reviews the outcomes of 96 patients cared for by aeromedical crews composed of two dual-licensed registered nurse (RN)/paramedics (PM) or one registered nurse and one paramedic. The Revised Trauma Score for Triage (RTS) was used as an objective measure of patient status. There were no significant differences between the crew configurations in ground time, flight time, total mission time, and RTS after transport; initial RTS in patients cared for by 2 RN/PM crews was significantly lower. Analysis of the subset of patients felt to be more severely injured (RTS less than or equal to 10) failed to show any significant differences between these two groups. This work outlines a methodology that objectively assesses the contribution of different crew configurations to the care of the trauma patient.