The HEMS Medical Crew Survey

Background Crew configuration in helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) is a long debated topic. Different systems have seemingly good arguments for their choice of crew concept, but there is no solid scientific evidence available to support the benefit of any crew concept, especially in terms of medical benefit for the patient. To evaluate the rationale behind different crew compositions we invited international HEMS systems to participate in a survey to document crew concepts, crew competence and perceived benefit or disadvantage of the different crew concepts; the HEMS medical crew survey. We here present preliminary data from the survey.