Comparative Study on the Outcome of Stroke Patients Transferred by Doctor Helicopters and Ground Ambulances in South Korea: A Retrospective Controlled Study

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) for its economic operations in South Korea. This study targeted stroke patients who were transported via HEMS or ground emergency medical services (GEMS) from the scene of an accident to a regional emergency medical center. From this patient population, stroke patients who traveled at least 50 km from the scene of the cerebral infarction to the hospital with analyzable outcome data were extracted and included in this study. This study included 26 HEMS and 102 GEMS stroke patients from a pool of 183 potential patients. The survival-to-discharge rate of patients transported via HEMS (96.2%; 25/26) was significantly higher than that of patients transported via GEMS (83.2%; 104/128) (P=0.001). The HEMS transfer was quicker with respect to the decision-making process because the emergency physician actively evaluates and communicates on-site and during in-transit travel to request an appointment immediately upon arrival at the emergency room. These results indicate that using HEMS increased discharge and survival rates and reduced in-hospital mortality of HEMS of stroke patients with a reduced admission time. This result association leads to reasonable cost-effectiveness and efficient estimates overall. In conclusion, HEMS indicate reduced time taken for stroke patients to be hospitalized and treated and decreased mortality after 24 hours. According to this result, HEMS transport can be more effective than GEMS in long-distance delivery of stroke patients.