How to Handle In-Flight Death in International Patient Repatriation and Air Ambulance Operations.

In-flight cardiac arrest is a rare event that occurs at a rate of approximately 1 event in 3.8 to 4.7 million commercial airline passengers and at a rate of approximately 1 event in 1,500 to 3,000 patients transported by fixed wing international air medical transport.

Stratification of patients in long-distance, international, fixed-wing aircraft.

Introduction: A growing number of individuals with significant medical histories travel for business and holidays. Precise anticipation and stratification of transport-relevant illness severity in the planning stage of an air medical evacuation is crucial for mission success and patient safety.

Methods: We developed a staging system (ie, Stratification of Air Medical Transport by Expression of Symptoms in Patients [STEP]) and applied it to 356 patients transported by a fixed wing aircraft between January 2010 and June 2011.