air ambulance

Air ambulance outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest seen in the pandemic

Thames Valley Air Ambulance (TVAA) provides prehospital enhanced and critical care to patients in the counties of Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire between 07:00 and 02:00, 365 days a year....

SAR helicopter paramedic practice: EtCO2 measuring to assist with CPR attempts

EtCO2 is the concentration of CO2 in exhaled air, and approximates the partial pressure of CO2 in arterial blood (PaCO2). Values of PaCO2 usually range between 4.6-6 KPa (Valente, 2010; Pantazopoulos...

Efficacy and safety of methoxyflurane: managing trauma associated pain in UK SAR helicopter paramedic practice

The PRISMA system is the accepted methodology for systematic reviews; it is primarily focused on evaluating randomised trials and synthesising meta-analysis (PRISMA, 2015). It became apparent early in...

Cardiac care in SAR helicopter paramedic practice: from mountainside to rehabilitation

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a non-specific phrase used to describe diseases of the heart and circulation. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that CVD is the leading cause of death in...

A review of the Great North Air Ambulance Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine Crew Course

Prior to joining GNAAS in April 2015, I had worked as an NHS paramedic for 9 years. This included several years on the road as both a rapid response paramedic and on the hazardous area response team...

Essex and Herts Air Ambulance: a focused case series for pre-hospital practice

The EHAAT doctor-paramedic team were dispatched to a 10-year-old girl who had been struck by a medium-sized van travelling at an unknown speed. Upon arrival of the first ambulance crew, the patient...

Challenges of postpartum haemorrhage: a case study in the aeromedical retrieval environment

Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) is the main cause of nearly 25% of maternal deaths worldwide (World Health Organization, 2012). The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) categorise PPH...

Spotlight on Research

Despite their wide use throughout the UK, air ambulances remain a scarce resource but, as yet, there is no consensus on the best method to identify when they should be dispatched, especially in...

Essex and Herts Air Ambulance: a focused case series for pre-hospital practice

We report the case of a 38-year-old male who was working on an industrial site loading 2-tonne paper rolls into the container of a heavy goods vehicle (HGV). When one of the paper rolls slipped off...

Essex and Herts Air Ambulance: a focused case series for pre-hospital practice Case 3: a femoral shaft fracture

A 23-year-old woman who, while crossing the road, was hit by a car coming towards her from her right side. Witnesses reported that the car drove over the patient and dragged her a few yards down the...

Rapid sequence induction and the paramedic

Rapid sequence intubation/induction (RSI) is an advanced procedure not currently advocated for UK paramedic practice although some paramedics attached to Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS)...