Recent Issues and Advances in Aeromedical Evacuation (MEDEVAC)

5-2
3,. STANDARD EQUIPMENT FOR MEDEVAC
As stated before some flight-surgeon
used medical equipment for an
aeromedical evacuation to his own
judgement:
After evaluating our own experience and
having learned from Canadian and
American experience we made the
standard equipment for medevac:
This standard equipment is suited for
use in the Fokker F- 27, Hercules
C- 130, KDC- 10 or Chinook-helicopter.
Apart from the varying number of NATO-
stretchersthe RNLAF- Medical Services
uses two sets of standard equipment'.
One set consists mainly of nursing-
materials suited for 10 patients each;
The second set has to be carried
onboard always';'
This set consists amongst others of a
ECG and Defibrillatorset, an 13.-
pump, suctionpumps, a respirator and a
monitor for bloodpressure, Temperature,
oxygen saturation, ECG and pulse rate,;'
Overheadslides show you more detailled
our standard medevac equipment'.
The two sets mentioned and our "NATO-
stretcher - sized'' oxygen bottles
carrier are suited for all our trans-
portaircraft:
So each time the flight- surgeon has a
fixed set of equipment knowing the
number of patients '.
The standard medevac equipment can deal
with severe patients and complications
during the flight,
These standard is also a benefit for
the aircraft- commander: he knwos the
size, the weight and last but not
least the flight- safety of the
electrical devices:
4;. EXPERIENCE
The fixed method concerning a request
for and doing an aeromedical evacuation
according to protocol has been used for
more than one year; for example more
than 100 patients from Yougoslavia have
been transported over Europe-;
With the use of our protocol it takes
only a few hours from receiving a
medevac - request to actually take - off,;
As a great many of you colleagues know
the number of patients, their medical
status or even their destination can
change shortly before the flight or
during the flight; a stable patient
only exists in hospital- wards.
Our equipment covers most of the
complications you can expect sometime
doing aeromedical evacuations.
The RNLAF made some 30 Medevac-missions
from Sarajevo, Split, Zagreb and
Ancona.
Our protocol proved to be flexable and
complications c.q. acute extra patients
coul d be hand 1 ed.
Diagnosis 0.a;: cardiac failure, C.V.A,
orthopedic pathology , oncology ,
pneumothorax, abdomen surgical
pathology, neurologic disorders.
5': CONCLUSION AND RECOMMANDATIONS
A protocol enhances the simplicity and
flexibility of aeromedical evacuation
with respect to reaction- time,
selecting crew and equipment and
taking care of complications.;
In addition be sure that all Civil and
Defense authorities know this protocol,.
Finally by using your own standard
evaluation- and rapportation- paperwork
for the Medical Services and, don"t
forget, the Operations Centre of your
Head- Quarters lessons can be learned
from each aeromedical evacuation,
Doing so flying operations will be done
and medical know-how will increase .
trying to reach perfection,: