S. Oppe et Ft. De Charro, The effect of medical care by a helicopter trauma team on the probability of survival and the quality of life of hospitalised victims, ACC ANAL PR, 33(1), 2001, pp. 129-138
In 1995, an experiment was started to give extra medical help by helicopter
to patients who needed emergency treatment. The aim of the experiment was
not to reduce the transportation time to the hospital, but to bring special
ised medical care directly to patients as soon as possible. An evaluation s
tudy was carried out to assess the effect of the treatment given by the Hel
icopter Trauma Team (HTT) on survival and quality of life. The study focuse
d on hospitalised patients suffering from polytrauma. A direct comparison b
etween an experimental and control group was not possible, because the HTT
group consisted of more severely injured patients. A refined severity index
was constructed on the basis of the Revised Trauma Scale (RTS) and the Inj
ury Severity Scale (ISS) and their sub-scores. Using this index, it was pos
sible to make a clear distinction between three groups of patients, i.e. th
ose with a high probability of survival (with or without special medical tr
eatment), those with a very low probability of survival and the patients in
between. It was shown that the HTT-treatment was effective. The survival r
ate increased for patients in the 'in between' group, but not for patients
with a low probability of survival. There was no difference in the quality
of life of patients from the HTT and non-HTT groups 15 months after the acc
ident. These findings refute the hypothesis that only the most severely inj
ured patients with a low quality of life profit from HTT-treatment. (C) 200
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