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Experience of the Polish Medical Air Rescue Service During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Measures Taken to Protect Patients, Medical Staff, and Air Crew from SARS-CoV-2 Infection

BACKGROUND: The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) and the sudden inflow of patients with severe COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) symptoms increased demand for hospital and pre-hospital care, the latter being provided by emergency medical teams. The Polish M...

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Autores principales: Rzońca, Patryk, Tomaka, Piotr, Rzońca, Ewa, Gałązkowski, Robert
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: International Scientific Literature, Inc. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8895673/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35221329
http://dx.doi.org/10.12659/MSM.935474
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author Rzońca, Patryk
Tomaka, Piotr
Rzońca, Ewa
Gałązkowski, Robert
author_facet Rzońca, Patryk
Tomaka, Piotr
Rzońca, Ewa
Gałązkowski, Robert
author_sort Rzońca, Patryk
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) and the sudden inflow of patients with severe COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) symptoms increased demand for hospital and pre-hospital care, the latter being provided by emergency medical teams. The Polish Medical Air Rescue Services include the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) and the airplane-based Emergency Medical Service (EMS). This study aimed to present the experience of the Polish Medical Air Rescue Service during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and measures taken to protect patients, medical staff, and air crew from SARS-CoV-2 infection. MATERIAL/METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of missions completed by the Polish Medical Air Rescue crews with respect to confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases. We analyzed data from the medical records of the Polish Medical Air Rescue Service, which included flights to accidents and emergencies, and air patient transport missions, where medical assistance was provided to patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first year of the pandemic in Poland. RESULTS: Among the COVID-19 patients, the most common comorbidity was acute respiratory failure (41.58%). Emergency missions more often concerned older patients with sudden cardiac arrest, dyspnea, upper respiratory tract infection, stroke, and acute coronary syndromes. CONCLUSIONS: During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland, the Polish Medical Air Rescue Service implemented procedures to protect patients, medical staff, and air crew from SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study highlights the importance of using single-patient isolation units for patient transport between hospitals and for emergency hospital admissions when the SARS-CoV-2 status of the patients were unknown.
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spelling pubmed-88956732022-03-23 Experience of the Polish Medical Air Rescue Service During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Measures Taken to Protect Patients, Medical Staff, and Air Crew from SARS-CoV-2 Infection Rzońca, Patryk Tomaka, Piotr Rzońca, Ewa Gałązkowski, Robert Med Sci Monit Clinical Research BACKGROUND: The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) and the sudden inflow of patients with severe COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) symptoms increased demand for hospital and pre-hospital care, the latter being provided by emergency medical teams. The Polish Medical Air Rescue Services include the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) and the airplane-based Emergency Medical Service (EMS). This study aimed to present the experience of the Polish Medical Air Rescue Service during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and measures taken to protect patients, medical staff, and air crew from SARS-CoV-2 infection. MATERIAL/METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of missions completed by the Polish Medical Air Rescue crews with respect to confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases. We analyzed data from the medical records of the Polish Medical Air Rescue Service, which included flights to accidents and emergencies, and air patient transport missions, where medical assistance was provided to patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first year of the pandemic in Poland. RESULTS: Among the COVID-19 patients, the most common comorbidity was acute respiratory failure (41.58%). Emergency missions more often concerned older patients with sudden cardiac arrest, dyspnea, upper respiratory tract infection, stroke, and acute coronary syndromes. CONCLUSIONS: During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland, the Polish Medical Air Rescue Service implemented procedures to protect patients, medical staff, and air crew from SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study highlights the importance of using single-patient isolation units for patient transport between hospitals and for emergency hospital admissions when the SARS-CoV-2 status of the patients were unknown. International Scientific Literature, Inc. 2022-02-28 /pmc/articles/PMC8895673/ /pubmed/35221329 http://dx.doi.org/10.12659/MSM.935474 Text en © Med Sci Monit, 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This work is licensed under Creative Common Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) )
spellingShingle Clinical Research
Rzońca, Patryk
Tomaka, Piotr
Rzońca, Ewa
Gałązkowski, Robert
Experience of the Polish Medical Air Rescue Service During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Measures Taken to Protect Patients, Medical Staff, and Air Crew from SARS-CoV-2 Infection
title Experience of the Polish Medical Air Rescue Service During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Measures Taken to Protect Patients, Medical Staff, and Air Crew from SARS-CoV-2 Infection
title_full Experience of the Polish Medical Air Rescue Service During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Measures Taken to Protect Patients, Medical Staff, and Air Crew from SARS-CoV-2 Infection
title_fullStr Experience of the Polish Medical Air Rescue Service During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Measures Taken to Protect Patients, Medical Staff, and Air Crew from SARS-CoV-2 Infection
title_full_unstemmed Experience of the Polish Medical Air Rescue Service During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Measures Taken to Protect Patients, Medical Staff, and Air Crew from SARS-CoV-2 Infection
title_short Experience of the Polish Medical Air Rescue Service During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Measures Taken to Protect Patients, Medical Staff, and Air Crew from SARS-CoV-2 Infection
title_sort experience of the polish medical air rescue service during the first year of the covid-19 pandemic and measures taken to protect patients, medical staff, and air crew from sars-cov-2 infection
topic Clinical Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8895673/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35221329
http://dx.doi.org/10.12659/MSM.935474
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