Medical retrievals to tertiary referral centres in Sydney

Abstract

A medical retrieval is a mission in which a doctor (usually accompanied by a nurse or paramedical personnel) travels to a sick or injured patient and accompanies him or her to a hospital, stabilising and managing the patient at the retrieval site and en route. A distinction is made between medical retrieval and patient transport with a medical escort. Medical retrievals may be primary (e.g. from the roadside at the site of a motor vehicle accident) or secondary (from one hospital to another). The vehicles used are road ambulances, fixed-wing air ambulances and helicopters.The Epidemiology and Health Services Evaluation Branch of the NSW Health Department, in collaboration with the Centre for Health Economics, Research and Evaluation, has carried out a review of all medical retrievals by Sydney-based retrieval teams to tertiary referral centres in Sydney between February 1 and May 31, 1991. The objectives of the review were to: (SLSA), based at Prince Henry Hospital; Child Flight, based at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children (RAHC); and NRMA Careflight, based at Westmead Hospital. Five retrieval teams use the transport vehicles provided by the operators. Two of these teams are employed by the retrieval operators, viz. SLSA and NRMA Careflight. The other three teams are hospital-based and are at the Grace Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, RAHC; the Lower Todman Intensive Care Unit, also at RAHC; and the Prince of Wales Children's Hospital. Retrievals are carried out by various combinations of operators and teams.The three helicopter operators (SLSA, Child Flight and NRMA Careflight) are private non-profit organisations which are individually contracted to the NSW Health Department to provide transport for medical retrievals. The Department's payments comprise a fixed monthly retainer and additional fees which depend on the amount of time for which the helicopter's engine is switched on (engine time). lEA LTH E PARr MEN T Contents LIIArticles 71 Medical retrievals to tertiary referral centres in Sythiey 73 Genesis ofaPHU disaster response plan Liii News and Comment 77 Attitudes to chemicals and pesticides Infectious diseases 78 Not fications

Medical evacuation from the Lake Kutubu region of Papua New Guinea

“…The predominant age group of 20–40 year olds reflected both Chevron work force and area population demographics 1,3,7 . Patients under 12 years comprised the second largest group, also consistent with local population demographics and the New South Wales experience 1,3,13 . Citizen employees and contractors (all male) comprised 61% of Chevron personnel medivacs, consistent with workforce demographies 7 .…”