Family Physician: A Friend to Depend On

Posted on: 20 July 2016

Finding the right medical flight provider could be a matter of life and death for patients involved in an emergency medical situation.

Medical flight providers must offer a combination of logistical prowess, medical knowledge, and expertise with operating both aviation and medical equipment. For this reason, all of the following four factors are important in evaluating medical flight providers:

Location and response time

In an emergency medical situation, a medical flight needs to arrive as quickly as possible. The response time a medical flight provider can offer will depend largely on where the provider is located. Ideally, you want to find a provider located in a place that is easily accessible by air from the destination hospital or medical institution.

Location isn't the only factor that impacts response time. It's also important to look at the aviation equipment available to the provider and to consider how well staffed the provider is. Find out how many pilots the provider has in addition to doing some research on what type of aviation equipment they're using and how quickly aircraft can be off the ground. 

Qualifications of staff members

Medical flight providers should provide you with any information you wish to have on the education and experience of pilots, flight nurses, and all staff members.

Remember that providing health care on an aircraft can differ from providing health care at a hospital in many ways. Look for medical personnel whose past has left them specialized in providing in-flight medical services. 

Available equipment

A medical flight provider should offer aircraft that are capable of functioning as intensive care units in the air. Look not only at the aircraft itself, but also the monitors, medicines, and tools that go into the air with crew members.

If it's not aboard the aircraft when it takes off, in-flight nurses won't have access to it until they land. You need to make sure that aircraft travels with everything that's necessary to keep patients healthy during even extended trips.

Certification

The Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing offers certification for flight nurses. This certification is an important indicator of expertise in staff members providing in-flight health care.

It's also important to look into a provider's history of compliance with FAA regulations. A medical flight provider's aircraft need to be registered with the FAA. The provider needs to continue adhering to FAA compliance rulings to offer the best possible service to patients in need of emergency transportation by air. 

For medical flights, contact a company such as Angel-Flights.