Scand J Trauma Resus
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Sep 2018
Multicenter StudyA socio-economic analysis of increased staffing in the Norwegian helicopter emergency medical service.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is preparing a new set of regulations that will cover working and resting periods for crew members engaged in emergency medical services with helicopters (HEMS) and aeroplanes (AEMS). Such a shared European regulatory framework has already been introduced for the majority of commercial operations with aeroplanes, whereas national regulations are still in place for helicopter operations. A possible consequence of changing the regulations on working and resting periods for helicopter operations is that current abilities to provide 24-h, continuous emergency readiness with the same helicopter crew will be changed to a daily shift pattern with two, and even up to three, different crews to cover one 24-h period. ⋯ Alternations to the working and resting periods for Norwegian HEMS operations that will result in a change from the current 24-h, continuous emergency readiness with the same crew, to a set-up with two, and up to three, different crews are not found to be socio-economically beneficial.