An Air Medical Approach to In-Flight Cardiac Arrest Management

Objective

Cardiac arrest during air medical transport is a complex and challenging issue, with unique factors such as limited physical space with restricted access to patients and equipment, small transport teams, limited resources, clinical isolation, effects of altitude, and the need for rapid decision making. The American Heart Association proposed 10 steps to improve outcomes of in-hospital cardiac arrest and serve as the framework for this article. This article aimed to explore these unique challenges and propose a contextual approach that might serve as the basis for improvement projects looking to improve outcomes for affected patients.

Methods

This article represents a narrative review of the subject to consolidate the issue of cardiac arrest in the air medical setting specifically. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses literature search extension was used to guide the search strategy and methodology. The applicable items in the literature were selected through searches of the PubMed and Google Scholar databases. The Medical Subject Headings search terms used included “cardiopulmonary resuscitation” or “heart arrest” and “air ambulance” or “air medical transport,’’ yielding 477 results. Screening for relevant results for inclusion was based on the relevance of the title or abstract. Articles not written in English or German or addressing commercial air transport were excluded. The reference lists of the included articles were searched for additional literature not included in the original search.

Results

Three distinct phases are arbitrarily identified by the authors, and the results are discussed under the following headings: pre-arrest, intra-arrest, and post-arrest phases. The pre-arrest phase is characterized by a wide array of concepts such as appropriate goals of care, advanced preparation and action, good clinical governance, patient assessment and handover, system design and ergonomics, sterile cockpit management, appropriate alarm management, and contingency planning in the case of failed resuscitation. The intra-arrest phase is characterized by the contextualization of the usual resuscitation approach, and specific recommendations for immediate nonresuscitative actions, history, hazards, help, airway, breathing, circulation, drugs, and reversible causes are suggested. The post-arrest phase highlights the vulnerable nature of the post–cardiac arrest patient in the air medical setting. Specific considerations regarding postresuscitation care and practitioner well-being are highlighted.

Conclusion

This article outlines a systematic approach to various physical, clinical, mental, and systemic factors that can be used during various phases of the transport journey as well as the individual patient journey. This overview sensitizes individual clinicians or program directors to the factors needing consideration when looking to improve cardiac arrest patient outcomes.