Traumatic Injury Launch Criteria

HealthNet Aeromedical Flight Teams can manage the following types of patients:

Victims of traumatic injury judged to be at statistically highest risk of lethal blood loss based on one or more of the following mechanisms of injury and located more than twenty-five minutes from the nearest appropriate facility.

1. Falls of greater than 20 feet.
2. Motor vehicle accident with combined impact speed exceeding 30 mph.
3. Motor vehicle accident involving the death of another occupant.
4. Roll-over motor vehicle accidents.
5. Motor vehicle accidents with a greater than one foot space intrusion into the passenger compartment.
6. Motor vehicle accidents involving the ejection of the patient.
7. Motorcycle accident with injury.
8. Evidence of high energy dissipation.

Victims of traumatic injury, including burns and drowning with two or more of the following physiologic findings and located more than twenty minutes from the nearest appropriate facility:

1. Blood pressure below 90 systolic.
2. Heart rate greater than 110 in an adult.
3. Capillary refill exceeding two seconds.
4. Altered level of consciousness.
5. Chest or abdominal tenderness.
6. Respiratory distress.
7. Evidence of paralysis of extremities.

Victims of traumatic injury with one or more of the following anatomic findings:

1. Penetrating injury to the head, neck or torso.
2. Severe blunt trauma to the head, neck or torso.
3. Amputation proximal to the wrist or ankle.
4. Uncorrected airway obstruction.
5. Evidence of life threatening thoracic injury i.ewe., flail chest, tension pneumothorax.
6. Loss of palpable pulses distal to an extremity injury.
7. Victims of multiple casualty incidents.

It is the philosophy of HealthNet Aeromedical Services to reserve its treatment and transport capabilities for only the critically ill and injured. Every transport is reviewed for appropriateness before and after the transport. An extensive utilization and quality assurance program is in effect. However, the difficulty of establishing a definitive diagnosis in the emergency care setting is widely known and may result in transfer of an occasional patient who is later proven not to be critically ill or injured. HealthNet Aeromedical Services strives to minimize this situation.

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