Integrating Multidisciplinary Reviews of Fatalities Into a High-Performing Air Ambulance Service

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Pathology
• Medical Education

Background:

• Air ambulance services in the UK aim to reduce trauma deaths through advanced prehospital care.
• Current learning frameworks often focus on error identification rather than comprehensive analysis of all fatalities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the integration of multidisciplinary clinicopathological correlation (CPC) meetings into air ambulance services.
• To enhance learning from every patient death for system-wide improvements.

Main Methods:

• Inclusion of autopsy pathologists in CPC meetings with prehospital clinicians.
• Correlation of prehospital findings with definitive postmortem results.

Main Results:

• CPC meetings improve diagnostic accuracy, clinical reasoning, and professional development.
• Enhanced interprofessional collaboration, clinician well-being, and patient safety through contextualized learning.
• Demonstrated educational and systemic benefits, driving innovation and quality assurance.

Conclusions:

• High-performing air ambulance services should adopt structured CPC meetings with pathologist involvement.
• This approach embeds learning from every fatality as a cornerstone for governance and improved care.