Incidence and predictors of critical events during urgent air-medical transport.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Little is known about the risks of urgent air-medical transport used in regionalized health care systems. We sought to determine the incidence of in-transit critical events and identify factors associated with these events.

Methods

We conducted a population-based, retrospective cohort study using clinical and administrative data. We included all adults undergoing urgent air-medical transport in the Canadian province of Ontario between Jan. 1, 2004, and May 31, 2006. The primary outcome was in-transit critical events, which we defined as death, major resuscitative procedure, hemodynamic deterioration, or inadvertent extubation or respiratory arrest.

Results

We identified 19 228 patients who underwent air-medical transport during the study period. In-transit

SUBMITTER: Singh JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2764752 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature