Does the substitution of a resident for a flight nurse alter scene time?
The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of a nurse resident crew (N/R) to that of the usual nurse/nurse (N/N) crew in a helicopter transport service using scene time as a measure of overall teamwork. It was designed as a retrospective case control study carried out by a university-based helicopter emergency transport service. Emergency Medicine second-year residents who volunteered to be assigned to the helicopter transport service for 1 month rotations flew with an experienced flight nurse. This nurse/resident (N/R) team was compared to the usual nurse/nurse (N/N) team in scene trauma flights. The average ground time for the N/N crew (10.5 minutes, n = 43) was not significantly different from that of the N/R crew (10.3 minutes, n = 43). This study suggests that an emergency medicine resident can be incorporated into a flight crew without adversely affecting scene time.
Ben Housel
F
F
Life Flight, University of California Davis Medical Center, USA.
Pearson
D
D
Rhee
K J
KJ
Yamada
J
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000401:Aircraft; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D016529:Emergency Nursing; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D014187:Transportation of Patients