Australian dust storm: impact on a statewide air medical retrieval service

The Australian dust storm during the week of September 22, 2009, resulted in the grounding of a large portion of the air medical retrieval fleet in Queensland. We sought to determine whether during this event an increase occurred in cases requiring retrieval as a result of the dust storm, and whether the grounding of the retrieval fleet resulted in any adverse outcomes as a result of its inability to respond.

A retrospective review of respiratory and injury cases referred to the Queensland Emergency Medical System Coordination Centre from September 8 to October 5, 2009 was conducted. All cases with any respiratory or injury complaints were included. The number of cases, priority for retrieval, and the ability to retrieve these cases within the allocated time were examined and compared with those for a similar time frame in the previous year.

A 62.5% increase in respiratory cases was seen, and 13.3% increase in injury cases during the week of the dust storm event, when compared with the previous year. Neither of these results reached statistical significance, but they demonstrate a practically important difference. For the month surrounding the dust storm event, a 48.5% (P = .04) increase in respiratory cases occurred, but no increase in injury cases when compared with the previous year. Only one urgent case was unable to be air medically retrieved during the study period as a result of grounding of the aircraft because of the dust storm event, but contingency arrangements were made for alternative transport. No adverse events were recorded during the study period.

An increased demand on retrieval services was demonstrated during the period of the dust storm event. Despite grounding of the air medical fleet, all cases except one were able to be retrieved within clinically appropriate time frames or by alternative transport methods. Contingency plans need to be developed to cope with the possibility of similar events in the future, to prevent adverse events from occurring.