Spinal Cord Injuries and Helicopter Emergency Medical Services, 6,929 Patients: A Multicenter Analysis

Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) impacts quality of life for patients and caregivers, generating lifetime costs in the millions. Previous studies show delayed treatment of SCI patients at specialized centers is linked to complicated outcomes and extended hospitalizations. This study characterizes helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) use in SCI and develops a methodology to study large volumes of HEMS electronic medical record data from multiple providers.

This descriptive study used deidentified data of HEMS providers that use Golden Hour Data Systems, Inc (San Diego, CA) software service from 34 states in the United States from 2004 to 2011. Demographic and logistical data underwent a deidentification protocol developed specifically for this study before analysis.

Six thousand nine hundred twenty-nine SCI patients were transported. HEMS use increased but decreased relative to total transports from 2004 to 2011. The average patient was 39 ± 21 years old, male, and had a 63-minute total transport time. The largest age bracket was 15 to 25 years.

HEMS improved access for SCI patients to all localities and generally took under 2 hours. SCI patients are mostly young adult males, thus supporting the loss of years of productivity and also supporting the high lifetime cost for care for SCI. This study created a methodology for future multicenter aggregate data studies.