Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Pandemic: Chilean Air Force Experience in the Air Transport of Critically Ill Patients—The First 100 Cases

Abstract

Purpose Critical Care air transport has played an important role during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The goal of this manuscript is to analyze results and lessons learned from the evacuation of the first 100 COVID-19 patients transported between medical facilities in Chile. Materials and Methods We reviewed prospective data of patients who were referred for air transport between March 27th and July 09th, 2020. Results Of 115 referred patients, 100 were transported by air. All patients were intubated and mechanically ventilated. Hypertension, diabetes and obesity were the most commonly observed co-morbidities. Our service did not experience any major problems in patient care en route and, among the crew members. We did not observe any SARS COV-2 infections amongst our flight team members during the study period. Twelve (12%) patients died at their destination intensive care unit (ICU), while the remaining 88 patients (88%) returned to their primary hospitals after recovery. Conclusions Air transport of mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19 infection has been shown to be a safe way of transport, with no in-flight deaths and an in-hospital mortality of 12% which compares favorably with the in-hospital mortality of similar patients who did not undergo air transport.