Predictors of Inappropriate Helicopter Transport.
BACKGROUND
Helicopter transport (HT) is an efficient, but costly, means for injured patients to receive life-saving, definitive trauma care. Identifying the characteristics of inappropriate HT presents an opportunity to improve the utilization of this finite medical resource.


METHODS
Trauma registry records of all HT for a 3-year period (2016-2018) to an urban Level I trauma center were reviewed. HT was defined as inappropriate for patients who were discharged home from the emergency department or had a hospital length of stay <1 day, and who were discharged alive. Chi-square analysis and Student's t-test were used for univariate analysis. Predictors with a P value of less than .15 were subject to binary logistic regression analysis. A P value ≤.05 was considered significant.


RESULTS
There were 713 patients who received HT during the study period. One-hundred and forty-eight (20.8%) patients met the criteria as an inappropriate HT. In univariate analysis, Glasgow Coma Scale >8, Shock Index <0.9, and fall mechanism were found to be significantly associated with inappropriate HT. Age >55 was found to be associated with an appropriate HT. The average Injury Severity Score of the inappropriate HT group was 3.86 (±3.85) compared with 16.80 (±11.23) (P = .0001, Student's t-test).


DISCUSSION
Our findings suggest that there are evidence-based predictors of patients receiving inappropriate HT. Triage of HT using these predictors has the potential to decrease unnecessary deployments and reduce health care costs.
['Brown|Christopher|C|', 'Irfan|Wajeeh|W|', 'Schoen|Jonathan E|JE|', 'Marr|Alan B|AB|', 'Stuke|Lance E|LE|', 'Cavalea|Alexander C|AC|', 'Mosier|Willard W|WW|', 'Rogers|Camille L|CL|', 'Greiffenstein|Patrick P|PP|', 'Moore|Margaret M|MM|', 'Hunt|John P|JP|']
D000328:Adult D017732:Air Ambulances D005260:Female D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale D006801:Humans D015601:Injury Severity Score D007902:Length of Stay D016015:Logistic Models D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D012042:Registries D012189:Retrospective Studies D014193:Trauma Centers D014218:Triage D019564:Unnecessary Procedures D014947:Wounds and Injuries
helicopter trauma air transport trauma acute care