The invention of the helicopter in 1939 was revolutionary to the aircraft industry.
Now, this easily-mobile vehicle that can travel virtually anywhere has many applications, from carrying water to forest fires to using doppler radar surveillance systems in warfare.
One of the most important applications is the use of helicopters in emergency medical services (HEMS). Life Flight and similar networks save the lives of millions of lives throughout the world by getting people in need to a hospital in a timely manner.
However, the distribution and execution of these services is far from perfect. European institutions in particular have expressed HEMS challenges, specifically that they’re unevenly distributed across Europe.
HEMS Concerns in Europe
A recent study showed that HEMS availability is heavy in some areas and too sparse in others. The inconsistencies present serious challenges to many healthcare networks throughout the continent, including healthcare inequality and response times that are too slow.
The study examined the use of HEMS in 28 European Union countries, plus Iceland, Switzerland, Norway, and Lichtenstein. Authors considered the services used in each country, locations of helipads, ability to fly at night, medical staffing, and other factors that might influence the use of HEMS.
They specifically set out to determine if there were enough HEMS to service one million people per 1,000 square kilometers. Their findings revealed that Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, and a few other economically downtrodden countries did not have dedicated HEMS services. However, economically profitable countries like Luxembourg had a surplus of HEMS compared to their service area and population.
“These services are variable in so many ways in terms of geographic coverage and population coverage,” senior study author Dr. Jan Jansen of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Center for Injury Sciences shared with Reuters Health.
Although economics is bound to play a factor, it was hard for researchers to define a clear pattern as to why some areas had more services than others. For example, Ireland only has one dedicated HEMS services while Germany boasts 89 with no clear reason for the disparity.
The availability of these helicopters by day and night also varied. Most dedicated HEMS services had great daytime coverage, but they failed to provide the same services at night. They were also understaffed during the night, presenting a new class of challenges.
Dr. Jansen said that “the aircrafts can vary a great deal in terms of how they’re equipped and when they fly. Night flying is very common in some countries, but it is also associated with greater risks.”
Future research will involve looking at sparse helicopter services throughout the rest of the world as well in an effort to equalize healthcare around the world.
“This isn’t a problem confined to Europe,” Dr. Jansen said. “We’re starting to look at the details here in the U.S. to understand the whole story of emergency medical services coverage.”
Strides in Improving HEMS in Europe
This study has revealed important metrics worth studying in HEMS, but it’s not exactly a surprise to those in the medical or air traffic sectors. This has been a problem for some time. Some of the problem is political and other aspects stem from logistics.
According to Anne Siri Johnsen of Norsk Luftambulanse, an HEMS that services Norway and Denmark, more organizations are mandating better reporting in order to see the problems and derive solutions.
“Uniform reporting would make it easier to compare responses and systems,” Johnson told Reuters Health. “If there were more uniform reporting, it would be easier to see the advantages and disadvantages of different systems.”
“Researchers need to see how the entire EMS system is built,” she continues. “In Norway, the search and rescue helicopters play a role in patient treatment and need to be accounted for.”
Other HEMS operators have pointed out that better spacing HEMS locations to more evenly cover a population’s need would be integral in improving this problem. The decision of where to base HEMS is often financial rather than needs-based, and that’s something that many organizations are working to correct.
Air traffic control networks are also doing their part to make helicopter transportation easier to handle. They’re working with Airbus Helicopters to run a point in space (PNS) and simultaneous non-interfering (SNI) test to ensure that helicopters can travel and communicate uninterrupted, particularly when a person’s life is on the line.
Progress may be slow in this area, but it is moving forward. It will take dedicated teams and good intentions to pull this off and create a strong network of HEMS services spread equally across the continent.
