title: Development of an educational program for the helicopter emergency medical services in Japan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Japanese helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) system provides advanced prehospital treatment at the scene. The education of the dispatched HEMS physicians is important for guaranteeing the quality of medical and safety management, but there is no nationally established training program. This study aimed to determine the validity of the HEMS educational program developed by our team.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 3-step educational program was designed for HEMS trainees: step 1, 20 HEMS missions as an observer; step 2, 80 missions of on-the-job training; and step 3, certifying examination conducted by a supervisor. As an evaluation standard, scene time, defined as time from landing at the scene to taking off for a hospital, was determined retrospectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For trainees, scene time was significantly longer (16.3 ± 5.4 min, 95% CI 15.5-17.1) than for experts (doctors who completed >200 HEMS missions; 15.2 ± 6.7 min, 95% CI 14.7-15.8; P = 0.040) but was significantly shorter than for doctors trained before establishment of the HEMS program (17.5 ± 7.0 min, 95% CI 16.9-18.2; P = 0.030). In cases of trauma or intrinsic disease, there was no significant difference in scene time between trainees (17.4 ± 5.6 min and 14.9 ± 4.8 min, respectively) and experts (16.4 ± 7.8 min and 14.2 ± 5.5 min, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The finding that scene time was shortened for program trainees demonstrates the validity of our HEMS educational program. The quality of HEMS missions will be better ensured through this educational system.
authors: Shock and Trauma Center/Hokusoh HEMS, Chiba Hokusoh Hospital, Nippon Medical School, Japan. hmatsu@nms.ac.jp
authors: Hisashi
authors: H
authors: Matsumoto
authors: Katsuhiro
authors: K
authors: Kanemaru
authors: Yoshiaki
authors: Y
authors: Hara
authors: Takahiro
authors: T
authors: Yagi
authors: Nobuyuki
authors: N
authors: Saito
authors: Shinichiro
authors: S
authors: Tetsu
authors: Hiroaki
authors: H
authors: Iida
authors: Kurato
authors: K
authors: Jonishi
authors: Tomokazu
authors: T
authors: Motomura
authors: Yukiko
authors: Y
authors: Masuda
authors: Kazuyuki
authors: K
authors: Hayashida
authors: Atsushi
authors: A
authors: Hirabayashi
authors: Kunihiro
authors: K
authors: Mashiko
authors: Hiroyuki
authors: H
authors: Yokota
mesh_terms: D017732:Air Ambulances / Q000592:standards; D000401:Aircraft; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007564:Japan; D000078329:Workforce