Emergency workers in Maryland will now consult with trauma center doctors before using medevac helicopters to transport patients with no obvious external injuries, state officials said Monday.
The change to protocol comes in the wake of an helicopter accident nine days ago that killed four people, including a patient whose parents have publicly questioned whether her injuries were severe enough to require medevac use.
“If rescue workers arrive on the scene and people are talking, breathing, with no outside bruising or anything, but there is reason to suspect that internal injuries could have occurred, then they will get a second opinion to verify the need to make the transport,” said Jim Brown, spokesman for Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services and Systems. Brown added that officials anticipate it will take an extra 60 to 90 seconds for rescue personnel to make the call.
A team of representatives from the air medical industry, trauma surgeons, state medical directors and other emergency responders skilled at a national level will also review the emergency response to last week’s tragedy. They are expected to complete the review by the end of the year.
The Sept. 28 crash in Walker Mill Regional Park in Prince George’s that killed four and seriously injured another was the deadliest in Maryland since state police helicopter rescue missions began about 40 years ago.
Since this helicopter crash, however, a debate has intensified about when to transport those injured in accidents to a hospital by vehicle or air and other state guidelines established by the American College of Surgeons. Such decisions are complicated because trauma triage is not an exact science, and time is the enemy when responding to critically injured patients, said Dr. Thomas Scalea, physician-in-chief at the shock trauma center.
“If you’re lying on the side of the road, you deserve to hear a helicopter land,” Scalea said.
Scalea welcomed the review as long as money was not an issue and the state’s medevac system continued serving as a model program. “This is the finest emergency medical care that is available in the world and we can’t risk losing that,” he said.
