The creation, implementation, and harmonisation of medical standard operating procedures and checklists of Finnish Helicopter Emergency Medical Service units.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate the creation, implementation, and harmonisation of medical Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) in Finnish Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS). The research questions are: (1) What factors influence the creation and implementation of medical SOPs for Finnish HEMS units? and (2) What can be done to harmonise the medical SOPs of Finnish HEMS units?

Methods: The research was conducted as a qualitative interview study with HEMS physicians who worked full-time in Finnish HEMS units or had worked in HEMS for more than five years. Three HEMS physicians from each of the six HEMS units in Finland participated in the study (n = 18).

Impact of icing weather conditions on the patients in helicopter emergency medical service: a prospective study from Northern Finland.

Background: A high number of denied or cancelled HEMS missions are caused by poor weather conditions especially during winter season. Furthermore, many helicopter manufacturers have denied their helicopters to be operated in known icing conditions. Icing is a widely known phenomenon in aviation, but there is a lack of evidence about its influence on HEMS operations and patients.

Accidental hypothermia: factors related to long-term hospitalization. A retrospective study from northern Finland.

Accidental hypothermia has a low incidence, but is associated with a high mortality rate. Knowledge about concomitant factors, complications, and length of hospital stay is limited. A retrospective cohort study on patients with accidental hypothermia admitted to Oulu University Hospital in Finland, over a 5-year period.

In-flight breech delivery in Finnish lapland.

Although medical crews may initially approach obstetric transport requests with (at least internal) trepidation, it has been shown that the risk of an in-flight delivery occurring is extremely low, even among patients considered high risk.(1-4) Nevertheless, the greatest concern of helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) personnel remains the potential for in-flight delivery.(5) Finland is a Northern European country, with a land area almost equivalent to that of the US state of New Mexico.