ASTNA PARTNERS WITH ENA AND IAFCCP TO ADDRESS “HELICOPTER SHOPPING”

ASTNA PARTNERS WITH ENA AND IAFCCP TO ADDRESS “HELICOPTER SHOPPING”

NEWS FROM THE AIR & SURFACE TRANSPORT NURSES ASSOCIATION FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Aurora, Colorado (March 1, 2019). The Air & Surface Transport Nurses Association (ASTNA) announces the release of the joint position statement Responsible “Helicopter Shopping” Through Selective Resource Management, published in 2018.

When hospitals have a patient in urgent need of transport to a higher level of care, and in situations in which a patient’s life depends on rapid transport over long distances, helicopter air ambulance services often are the best option. This response, however, can be limited by weather conditions, equipment maintenance issues, and a variety of other safety factors. With the growth of the air medical industry and the availability of multiple providers, a practice known as “helicopter shopping,” can occur in situations when safe transport may be limited. Helicopter shopping is defined as a process of making sequential requests to multiple providers in an effort to secure air medical resources for a call response that some agencies turn down due to the factors described above.

ASTNA partnered with the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) and the International Association of Flight and Critical Care Paramedics (IAFCCP) to author a joint position statement that addresses the issue, with a goal to educate all parties involved in patient transport, specifically requestors, communications specialists, other transport providers, and hospital staff. Sharon Purdom, ASTNA President, explains the importance of this strategic partnership, “I am grateful for our collaboration to improve safety in the air medical industry. It is our goal to educate and notify all individuals involved in requesting a helicopter. We are a small air medical family that is devastated by an air medical crash.”

In the interest of working together with a shared goal of increasing the safety of flight operations, the author team agreed that the phrase “helicopter shopping” does an injustice to not only the problem, but also to the hospital- and EMS-based staff who request air medical services. The phrase conveys that the problem is that hospitals and EMS agencies “shop” for helicopters. Patricia Corbett, ASTNA’s team leader on the project, describes the conversation, “We chose the phrase ‘selective resource management’ over ‘helicopter shopping’ because we wanted to the statement to focus on the shared accountability to communicate vital information to mitigate risk.” This new phrase acknowledges the importance and inclusion of a closed loop feedback for all parties involved in patient transport. Selective resource management emphasizes that patient transport is a shared responsibility, whereas “helicopter shopping” may seem to attribute responsibility or even blame solely on a requestor.

The absence of selective resource management can increase the risk to both flight teams and patients if communication breaks down and complete information is not provided to each service that is contacted. It is vitally important that information regarding previous requests for air medical transport and details about turndown be shared with subsequent program(s) so informed decisions can be made; this is a proactive approach to mitigating risk and/or raising awareness about risk. The joint statement also describes the impact of factors such as weather conditions, aircraft, and pilot capabilities, and the role of communications and operational control. The statement is unique in that it also examines the issue from the perspective of each of the authoring organizations.

The consensus is that a shared focus on proactive risk mitigation and proper resource management is paramount. This includes communication that is a shared responsibility of both sender and receiver and that all transport services should work cooperatively. Ongoing education for all parties involved in patient transport should include principles in proper selective resource management and safety issues affecting air medical transport and patient safety.

A complimentary copy is available for download.  For more information, please contact Nikole Good, ASTNA Executive Director, at ngood@astna.org.