Question 1 · Medical & Resuscitation · Moderate
A retrieval co-ordinator is choosing a platform for the secondary transfer of a ventilated adult between two hospitals. Using the comparison of road, rotary-wing and fixed-wing platforms in the ABC of Prehospital Emergency Medicine, over which transfer distance is rotary wing described as best suited?
- AUnder 50 km
- BUnder 100 km
- C100–350 km
- DOver 350 km
- EOver 750 km
Show answer
Answer: C
100–350 km
Table 32.2 of the ABC compares transport platforms: road is best under 100 km (60–120 km/h depending on roads and traffic), rotary wing is best at 100–350 km (240–300 km/h) and fixed wing is best over 350 km (about 500 km/h for a propeller aircraft and 750 km/h for a jet — the source of the 750 figure). The same table sets out the trade-offs: road and rotary wing allow point-to-point transfer and so minimise double handling, whereas fixed wing needs a landing strip and a secondary road transfer; road can stop or divert if the patient deteriorates, rotary wing has limited diversion and fixed wing very limited diversion; aircraft are limited by weather and rotary wing is very high cost. These bands are a guide, not a rule: the ICS/FICM 2019 guidance lists illness, urgency, distance, availability, mobilisation times, geography, traffic, weather and cost as the factors that determine the choice of transport mode.
Where this comes from
- ABC of Prehospital Emergency Medicinep. 174Ch. 32 Retrieval and Transport · Table 32.2 Comparison of transport platforms“Best 100–350 km”