Analysis of Decision-Making Process in Helicopter Emergency Medical Service

In the helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS), the captain flies without using visual assistance to keep some distance between the helicopter and clouds or obstacles. Under the present conditions, the communication specialist (CS) and the captain of HEMS contact each other and select the safest flight path. With the increase in future requests, conducting safe and effective navigation is a challenge of the CS. However, it is difficult to say that all CSs conduct their duties with profound knowledge and experience about the detailed weather and land forms. In addition, a reasonable amount of time is needed to standardize their knowledge and experience. Consequently in this research, the authors focused on the understanding and assessment of the situation and the process of the decision-making and then analyzed them. The authors also interviewed the CS directly, and proposed to develop a system which can make up for the differences in the knowledge and experience of individual CSs. Analysis of Decision-Making Process in Helicopter Emergency Medical Service