The aim of helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) is to supplement ground EMS units in the care of prehospital patients. The need for advanced airway management in critical out-of-hospital patients can be considered as one indicator of the severity of the patient's condition.~A recent European initiative suggested advanced airway management to be included in the top five research priorities for physician-provided prehospital care.To our knowledge, no previous studies describe the long-term outcome of critical prehospital patients treated by an EMS physician.~The primary aim of this study was to describe the long-term outcome of critically ill or severely injured patients not in cardiac arrest treated by an EMS physician. Our secondary aims were to determine the indications and causes for EMS physician performed prehospital endotracheal intubation.
The primary aim of this study was to describe the long-term outcome of critically ill or severely injured patients not in cardiac arrest treated by an EMS physician.