Cross-sectional study of the healthcare provided by a medicalized helicopter from Extremadura (Spain)

To analyze geographic dispersion, demographic factors, clinical features of patients attended and response times of a helicopter emergency medical service in a region of Spain.

According to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and to the standards of Good Clinical Practice, a cross-sectional observational study from January 2014 to December 2016 was carried out. Socio-demographic, clinical and transfer related variables were analyzed from an anonymized database loaned by the service.

642 missions were flown (on average 0.59 flights per day). The patients were 65.6% males (they were significantly younger than women were) and 79% older than 45. Primary transfers composed 68.8% of cases. Medical pathologies were the most prevalent (74.9%), followed by traumatic pathologies (19.8%). Cardiovascular pathologies took up 68.8% of attended medical pathologies and 51.56% of the total of recorded cases. The accident rate was 20.25% and the response time in 75% of cases was under 32 min. Twenty deceased patients were registered (70% males).

This study reports for the international community the features of several Spanish HEMS and profile of patients attended. Adult men are a common profile and cardiovascular issues have replaced traumatic issues as main healthcare demand. However, it should be confirmed because it could be due to differences in local profile of patients. Men had higher risk of road traffic and occupational accidents as well as a higher mortality than women did. Socio-demographical and organizational aspects have been provided that could be taken into consideration to implement new air emergency services.