With current dispatching protocols, most of the primary HEMS scenes we attend already have St John’s Ambulance present managing the patient. With this in mind, it is important for us to be aware of the treatment protocols they may have used on the patient.
The most current version of the St John Clinical Practice Guidelines is here:
The Auckland HEMS recently completed its first interhospital transfer. It is anticipated that in future we will do more of this sort of work.
Careflight recently published a paper entitled ‘The principles of aeromedical retrieval of the critically ill‘.
The RFDS in Australia has also published an excellent overview of aeromedical transfers, obtained from the ‘clinical resources’ section of their website.
The pdf is here: RFDS Transporting Your Patient 2011
The first RFDS aircraft
Auckland HEMS 