Air medical transport of prisoners.
BACKGROUND
The medical problems of the incarcerated population often require emergent transport to medical facilities via air or ground. The transport of this population, however, can be logistically challenging because of the potentially dangerous nature of the patients and requirements for accompanying security personnel.


METHODS
A retrospective chart review was conducted of prisoners transported by our air medical service from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2008. We examined demographics, reason for call, type of patient, procedures performed by air medical crews during transport, and disposition from the emergency department.


RESULTS
Twenty-nine patients (0.3%) of the 11,448 helicopter transports during the study period were transported from correctional facilities, 17 of which were medical in nature and 12 of which had a traumatic mechanism. Fifteen (51.7%) were admitted to the operating room or intensive care unit after emergency treatment. The median scene time for these transports was 20.7 minutes and was significantly different from that of both scene and interfacility transports (median scene times of 13.7 and 31.0 minutes, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
Medical and traumatic problems of this transported population spanned a large variety of emergency complaints. Scene times reflected the nature of these transports and were not excessively long. Air medical programs should be aware of the medical problems of these patients and take measures to protect their crew when transporting this population.
McIntosh
Scott E
SE
Division of Emergency Medicine and the Air Medical Research Institute, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. Scott.McIntosh@hsc.utah.edu
Todd
Luisa E
LE
Swanson
Eric R
ER
Youngquist
Scott T
ST
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017732:Air Ambulances / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011329:Prisoners; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017751:Safety Management; D014481:United States