title: A five-year review of ground-to-air emergency medical advice.
abstract: We reviewed five years' experience of providing ground-to-air medical advice for commercial passenger aircraft. A total of 273 events occurred in-flight where further advice was sought. The most common age group resulting in calls were from those aged 21-30 years, who generated 38 calls (16%). The 273 cases included gastrointestinal conditions (26%), neurological (22%) and cardiovascular events (14%). Most incidents were managed conservatively in-flight with oxygen and/or other medications. Aircraft diversion occurred on 9% of occasions; cardiovascular and neurological emergencies were the major cause of this. Collaboration between aviation providers should be considered to develop a common database of in-flight emergencies so that contents of medical kits can be standardized in order to improve the quality of care in the air.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen, UK. a.urwin@doctors.org.uk
authors.forename: Alastair
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Urwin
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.forename: Roderick
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McDonald
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fraser
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000337:Aerospace Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000401:Aircraft; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004630:Emergencies / Q000453:epidemiology; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies