Assessment of U.S. helicopter emergency medical services' planning and preparedness for disaster response.
BACKGROUND
Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) roles in disaster response vary significantly from routine operation, and as reported in the literature, such responses have not been without difficulty. We identified nine criteria (written policy, triage and incident command training disaster drill participation, ground and air communications plan, critical incident stress management, annual review, policy sharing) that may significantly affected an air medical program's disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Of these criteria, a written policy is considered of primary importance.


METHODS
A written survey was developed and mailed in July 1995 to 187 U.S. rotor-wing members of the Association of Air Medical Services. The survey was designed to identify the programs that had a written policy and fulfilled the guideline criteria, had a written policy and partially fulfilled the criteria, or did not have a written policy.


RESULTS
Surveys were returned from 104 (56%) programs. Of the 103 qualifying respondents, 16 (16%) meet the criteria, 55 (53%) partially met the criteria, and 32 (31%) did not have written policies.


CONCLUSIONS
Most U.S. HEMS programs have not fully addressed disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. HEMS disaster response guidelines should be established, and these criteria should be incorporated.
Fenn
J
J
St. Vincent & Medical College Life Flight, Toledo, OH, USA.
Rega
P
P
Stavros
M
M
Buderer
N F
NF
D017732:Air Ambulances / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D000401:Aircraft; D003625:Data Collection; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000458:organization & administration; D016134:Organizational Policy; D010934:Planning Techniques; D014481:United States