Testing Quality Indicators for Physician-Staffed Fixed-Wing Air Medical Services in Iceland

Q3 Nursing

Air Medical Journal Pub Date : 2025-03-01 DOI:10.1016/j.amj.2024.12.002

María Kristbjörg Árnadóttir MD , Björn Gunnarsson MD, PhD , Helge Haugland MD, PhD

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objective

Medical evacuation with fixed-wing air ambulances and rescue helicopters plays an important role in Iceland's emergency medical services. The objective of this study was to measure the quality of physician-staffed fixed-wing air ambulance services in Iceland using the 15 response-specific quality indicators (QIs) developed by the EQUIPE consensus group in Scandinavia.

Methods

Physicians working in the Icelandic fixed-wing air ambulance service were asked to register response-specific QIs in an online questionnaire after every physician-staffed patient transport undertaken by the service from March 1 to December 31, 2023.

Results

The fixed-wing air ambulance service in Iceland did not reach the benchmarks proposed by EQUIPE in 11 of 15 QIs tested. Furthermore, 7 QIs fell in the low performance zone and 4 in the average performance zone.

Conclusion

Sparse population density, long transports, and the lack of a single prehospital organizational structure are challenging for Icelandic physician-staffed emergency medical services. This is, to our knowledge, the first time that the quality of the service has been assessed from other perspectives than time and mortality alone. As a result, several areas in need of improvement have been identified in our study.

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来源期刊

Air Medical Journal Nursing-Emergency Nursing

CiteScore

1.20

自引率

0.00%

发文量

112

审稿时长

69 days

期刊介绍： Air Medical Journal is the official journal of the five leading air medical transport associations in the United States. AMJ is the premier provider of information for the medical transport industry, addressing the unique concerns of medical transport physicians, nurses, pilots, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, communication specialists, and program administrators. The journal contains practical how-to articles, debates on controversial industry issues, legislative updates, case studies, and peer-reviewed original research articles covering all aspects of the medical transport profession.