If you are severely injured, a helicopter flight to a top-level trauma center will boost your chance of survival over ground transport. That’s the conclusion of a rigorous, national comparison of the effectiveness of helicopter versus ground emergency medical services, published in the April 18, 2012, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Of course in Houston, Memorial Herman’s Life Flight has been proving this for over 35 years as part of one of the nations largest trauma centers. (KRIV video below)
Life Flight a Real Life Saver, Study Says: MyFoxHOUSTON.com
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Although the raw numbers of deaths of patients carried by helicopter is quite high, the lead investigators in the study from the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins controlled for a variety of factors to determine the true rates of effectiveness and outcomes for patients versus the alternatives. (JAMA video)