Aeromedical evacuations during the COVID-19 pandemic: practical considerations for patient transport

Lemay, F.; Vanderschuren, Abel; Alain, Judith

doi:10.1017/cem.2020.434

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Patients on primary missions were less sick than interfacility transport patients, for whom air transport was the preferred method. According to the publication from Albrecht et al and their experience with COVID-19 air transport there are some recommendations for helicopter 16 and fixed-wing transportation 17 , 18 . These recommendations were based on experience with transportation of patients with other infectious diseases or with only fewer COVID-19 patients at a time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of European Air Medical Evacuation Flights of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients

Sammito

Turc

Post

et al. 2021

Air Medical Journal

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Background As part of the humanitarian response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the German and French Armed Forces provided air transport for patients from overwhelmed regional hospitals in Italy and France. The objective of this study is to analyse the characteristics of the missions and the medical conditions of COVID-19 patients transported during an aeromedical evacuation on fixed-wing aircraft in March and April 2020. Method Retrospective analysis of transport records as well as other documents for 58 COVID-19 patients requiring artificial ventilation. Results The age of the transported patients was in median 61.5 years and 61 % of them had pre-existing medical conditions. They had been ventilated for a median of 5 days and experienced the first symptoms of 18 days before transport. The patients flown out of France had less days of ventilation before flight, a lower end-tidal CO 2 at the beginning of the flight and a lower Charlson Comobidity Index. There were also some differences between the ventilation and the flight-level flown by the two air forces. Conclusion The intensive care transport of ventilated COVID-19 patients requires highly qualified personnel and appropriate equipment and should be planned appropriately.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of European Air Medical Evacuation Flights of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients

Sammito

Turc

Post

et al. 2021

Air Medical Journal

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“…Patient characteristics were consistent with those reported in the literature for patients with COVID-19 requiring invasive mechanical ventilation. 10 11 Although a few authors have proposed recommendations for the medicalised transfer of patients with COVID-19 [12][13][14][15] and few studies have described the transfer procedures. 6 16 In our study, the characteristics of the patients were consistent with those reported in the handful of previous studies of medical evacuations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collective aeromedical evacuations of SARS-CoV-2-related ARDS patients in a military tactical plane: a retrospective descriptive study

et al. 2021

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After the appearance of the COVID-19 pandemic in France, MEROPE system was created to transform the military tactical ATLAS A400M aircraft into a flying intensive care unit. Collective aeromedical evacuations (aero-MEDEVAC) of patients suffering from SARS-CoV-2-related acute respiratory distress syndrome was performed from June to December 2020. A total of 22 patients were transported during seven missions. All aero-MEDEVAC was performed in safe conditions for patients and crew. No life-threatening conditions occurred during flight. Biohazard controls were applied according to French guidelines and prevented crew contamination. Thanks to rigorous selection criteria and continuous in-flight medical care, the safe transportation of these patients was possible. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first description of collective aero-MEDEVAC of these kinds of patients using a tactical military aircraft. We here describe the patient’s characteristics and the flight’s challenges.

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“…Rural and remote regions experienced problems with recruiting and retaining health professionals for many years. At the time of the crisis, rural hospitals were not fully prepared to meet the demand if the situation had deteriorated further within their territories (61,62). In addition to aeromedical evacuations between regions, telehealth was rapidly deployed to ensure coverage of services and sharing of expertise (61,63,64).…”

Section: Insufficient Workforce In Hospitals and Clinicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the time of the crisis, rural hospitals were not fully prepared to meet the demand if the situation had deteriorated further within their territories (61,62). In addition to aeromedical evacuations between regions, telehealth was rapidly deployed to ensure coverage of services and sharing of expertise (61,63,64). Clinicians in preventive isolation or quarantine were able to continue providing services remotely (e.g., teleconsultation, prescription of medicines).…”

Section: Insufficient Workforce In Hospitals and Clinicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Can Health Systems Better Prepare for the Next Pandemic? Lessons Learned From the Management of COVID-19 in Quebec (Canada)

Alami

Lehoux

Fleet

et al. 2021

Front. Public Health

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The magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged societies around our globalized world. To contain the spread of the virus, unprecedented and drastic measures and policies were put in place by governments to manage an exceptional health care situation while maintaining other essential services. The responses of many governments showed a lack of preparedness to face this systemic and global health crisis. Drawing on field observations and available data on the first wave of the pandemic (mid-March to mid-May 2020) in Quebec (Canada), this article reviewed and discussed the successes and failures that characterized the management of COVID-19 in this province. Using the framework of Palagyi et al. on system preparedness toward emerging infectious diseases, we described and analyzed in a chronologically and narratively way: (1) how surveillance was structured; (2) how workforce issues were managed; (3) what infrastructures and medical supplies were made available; (4) what communication mechanisms were put in place; (5) what form of governance emerged; and (6) whether trust was established and maintained throughout the crisis. Our findings and observations stress that resilience and ability to adequately respond to a systemic and global crisis depend upon preexisting system-level characteristics and capacities at both the provincial and federal governance levels. By providing recommendations for policy and practice from a learning health system perspective, this paper contributes to the groundwork required for interdisciplinary research and genuine policy discussions to help health systems better prepare for future pandemics.

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Aeromedical evacuations during the COVID-19 pandemic: practical considerations for patient transport

Cited by 15 publications

References 5 publications

Analysis of European Air Medical Evacuation Flights of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients

Analysis of European Air Medical Evacuation Flights of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients

Collective aeromedical evacuations of SARS-CoV-2-related ARDS patients in a military tactical plane: a retrospective descriptive study

How Can Health Systems Better Prepare for the Next Pandemic? Lessons Learned From the Management of COVID-19 in Quebec (Canada)

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