Injury and fatality risks in aeromedical transport: focus on prevention

Abstract Background Aeromedical transport (AMT) is a reliable and well-established life-saving option for rapid patient transfers to health care delivery hubs. However, owing to the very nature of AMT, fatal and nonfatal events may occur. This study reviews aeromedical incidents because the publication of the last definitive review in 2003, aiming to provide additional insight into a wide range of factors potentially associated with fatal and nonfatal AMT incidents (AMTIs). We hypothesized that weather and/or visual conditions, postcrash fire, aircraft make and/or type, and time of day all correlate with the risk of AMTI with injury or fatality. Methods Specialty databases were queried for AMTI between January 1, 2003 and July 31, 2015. Additional Internet-based resources were also used to find any additional AMTI (including non-US occurrences) to augment the event sample size available for analysis. Univariate analyses of the collected sample were then performed for association between “fatal crash or injury” (FCOI) and weather/visual conditions, aircraft type and/or make, pilot error, equipment failure, post-incident fire, time of day (6 am-7 pm versus 7 pm-6 am), weekend (Friday-Sunday) versus weekday (Monday-Thursday), season of the year, and presence of patient on board. Variables reaching significance level of P