Emergency Medical Helicopter - ER in the Sky

In Korea, the field of aeromedical transport is less developed compared to other fields of medicine. Even though the Firefighting Aviation Corps has put their efforts into rescuing victims of trauma and patient evacuation, the portion of their transport is minimal and poorly organized. The Emergency Flight Team in Samsung Medical Center is the only HEMS (helicopter emergency medical system) run by a private sector in Korea. It had operated the Bell 412EP helicopter from Dec. 1996 to Dec. 2006, which was replaced with EC 155B1 made by Eurocopter in Jan. 2007. The team rescued 415 patients and supported 45 cases of organ transplantation during the period. This review will include not only the general concept of HEMS but also the discussion on the practical problems that we are facing, based on our 11-year experiences of aeromedical transport.