Boosting Confidence Through Interagency Air Medical Simulation: A Quality Assurance Exercise of a Critical Care Helicopter Landing at a Tertiary Trauma Hospital

Abstract

Objective: Emergency preparedness training in health care improves patient outcomes. For critically unwell patients outside the hospital setting, air medical helicopter hospital landings expedite emergency health care access. However, little is known of interagency staff experiences during this multifaceted health care provision. We captured staff experiences during the first interagency air medical helicopter landing simulation exercise between the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia and Royal Perth Hospital in Western Australia as a quality assurance exercise.

Methods: The simulation exercise yielded 21 participants (hospital and air medical clinicians, logisticians, and pilots) and 8 simulation facilitators who consented to provide data between June and October 2023. Data were collected by phone interviews and surveys and analyzed descriptively and qualitatively.

Results: Facilitators reported that conducting successful interagency helicopter retrieval simulations requires extensive planning and preparation. After the simulation, participants reported increased clinical confidence in their specific role, with a desire for greater exposure to diverse simulation training to optimize their future performances for real scenarios. Simulation debriefs allow for further participant clarification surrounding the overall process. They provide a medium for valuable feedback to health service providers in process refinement in the management of the critically unwell, enhancing a culture of safety.

Conclusion: This study highlighted that interagency simulations are a valuable exercise when multiple health service providers are involved in the management of individual patients who are critically unwell. The significant effort to organize and coordinate to create high-fidelity scenarios by facilitators is rewarded with significant benefit found by the participants in their ability to be prepared for the real-life scenario. Such findings have important implications for ongoing interagency collaboration and ongoing health care and educational strategy.