An emergency medical bag set for long-range aeromedical transportation

Abstract

The global war on terror has created the need for urgent long-range aeromedical transport of severely wounded service members over distances of several thousand miles from Afghanistan or Iraq to the United States. This need is met by specialized medical transport teams such as US Air Force Critical Care Air Transport Teams (CCATT) or by the US Army Burn Flight Team (BFT). Both teams travel with multiple bags or cases of emergency equipment, which are comprehensive but cumbersome. To avoid the need to search multiple bags for equipment or drugs when an in-flight emergency occurs, many CCATT and BFT physicians also carry a personal bag of emergency supplies for rapid access. Over the last year, we have evolved and standardized an emergency equipment bag designed to provide the supplies necessary for initial management of emergencies that occur during flight and ground transport. This or a similar emergency kit would be useful for inter or intrahospital transport of critically ill or injured civilian patients, or for physicians who respond to civil emergencies, such as members of Disaster Medical Assistance Teams.