Patients Air Medical Transport During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Cohort Study.
Alexandre de Souza Vieira, Greiciane da Silva Rocha, Lilia de Souza Nogueira
PMID 37462596WHAT IT FOUND
Among airlifted adults, overall in-flight complications and deaths did not differ by COVID-19 status, but patients with COVID-19 were older, sicker at boarding, and had more respiratory complications.
Key findings
01Overall in-flight complications occurred in 7.28% of patients and did not differ significantly between patients with and without COVID-19.
02Respiratory complications were significantly more frequent in patients with COVID-19 (4.08%) than in patients without COVID-19 (0.73%).
03Patients with COVID-19 had higher boarding REMS severity (median 5 vs 3), more comorbidities (60.30% vs 25.45%), higher BMI (27.68 vs 25.68), and more vasoactive drug use (12.66% vs 7.64%).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
It used convenience records from one Brazilian air transfer system, so the patients and transport setup may not match other services. The data were secondary and the service had no checklist or care protocol, so missing or uneven documentation could affect the results. The comparison was observational, so it cannot show that COVID-19 or air transport caused the differences found. REMS was calculated by the researchers after the fact from recorded vital signs and Glasgow scores, not as routine clinical scoring.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that air transport caused more respiratory complications in patients with COVID-19. This was a retrospective record comparison, not a test of transport effects, and overall complications and deaths did not differ.