. 2016 Feb 9;6(2):e010307. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010307

Table 1.

Study methods and use of HEMS

	Method	Described use of HEMS
Afzali et al¹⁶	Prospective observational study	Brought extra equipment for advanced life support. HEMS doctor was Medical Incident Officer in three major incidents
Almersjø et al⁴⁹	Case report	Performed search and rescue and secondary transfers
Ammons et al¹⁷	Case report	Evacuated the most severely injured patients to hospitals and brought extra equipment to the scene
Assa et al⁷	Case report	Brought extra personnel and equipment to the scene. Air-medical crews assisted ground units in triage and treatment. Transportation of casualties from the remotely located scene to trauma centres. Allowed distribution of patients between various centres in the region
Bland¹⁸	Case report	Command, triage, treatment and transport. Author was Forward Medical Incident Officer at Kings Cross scene
Bovender and Carey¹⁹	Case report	Used for more than 200 helicopter sorties from flooded hospital
Brandsjø et al⁵⁰	Case report	Rescued main proportion of survivors, because nearby ships could not perform sea rescue
Brandstrom et al²⁰	Case report	Search and Rescue
Buerk et al²¹	Case report, design not clearly described	Evacuated severely injured patients. Caused disruption of radio communication and destroyed an aid station. The possibility of collision was a concern
Buhrer and Tilney²²	Case report	Patient transport with advanced life support and a secondary transfer to a burn centre
Carlascio et al²³	Case report, design not clearly described	Secondary transfers and rescued one patient. Brought extra crew and blood products
Cassuto and Tarnow²⁴	Case report, design not clearly described	Secondary transfers from urban fire disaster
Cocanour et al²⁵	Case report, describing same type of incident as Bovender and Nates	Evacuated patients from a flooded hospital. Used for longer distance transport
Eckstein and Cowen²⁶	Case report	Not clearly described
Felix Jr ²⁷	Summarizes HEMS in USA in the early1970s with a major incident case report	Flew equipment to two damaged hospitals and transferred patients to other hospitals
Franklin et al²⁸	Case report	Patient transport from flooded areas to hospital and brought health personnel to places where they were needed
Furukawa²⁸	Case report	Transported personnel to the remote site of an airplane crash and airlifted survivors and dead from the scene
Iselius²⁹	Case report describing the same incident as Oestern	Evacuation of injured passengers from railway accident. Brought extra crew and equipment to the site
Jacobs et al³⁰	Review of seven major incidents in one HEMS service describing the same inci- dents as Stohler	Used for evacuation and transport of the most critically injured patients to trauma centres. Distributed them to different centres, so not to overwhelm the closest one
Lavery and Horan³¹	Case report	Primary and secondary transport of injured patients
Lavon et al³²	Two case reports	Brought extra personnel, equipment and command team to the local hospital. Participated in secondary transfer with advanced trauma life support to larger trauma centre
Leiba et al³³	Case report describing the same incident as Lavon	Brought extra personnel and blood products to the closest hospital and evacuated patients
Leiba et al³⁴	Case report describing the same incident as Assa. The DISAST-CIR methodology of reporting also used by Schwartz	Primary transport of injured to different hospitals ensuring that the closest hospital did not reach surge capacity
Lockey et al³⁵	Case report describing the same incident as Bland	Deployed staff and equipment to the scenes and staff from home to the hospitals. Allowed rapid deployment in difficult traffic conditions
Lyon and Sanders³⁶	Commentary of a case report	Brought pre-hospital doctors to the scene for medical incident command and advanced interventions. Transported the patients directly to specialist paediatric trauma centres
Malik et al³⁷	Observational study of scoring systems in a major incident in remote area	Transported personnel to the incident. Secondary transport of priority I patients to trauma centre
Martchenke et al³⁸	Case report, interviewing all participating HEMS members involved	Triage, treatment and transport of patients from earthquake
Martin⁵¹	Case report	Helicopter and personnel present at event. Tasks not specified
Matsumoto et al³⁹	Case report	Mainly used for patient transportation and evacuation. Also transported food, water and generators to destroyed hospitals
Nates⁴⁰	Case report and review of literature. Describing same type of incident as Bovender and Cocanour	Transport of patients from damaged hospital, vital in evacuation because of damaged roads
Nia et al⁵³	Case report and survey of survivor's opinions about health response	Evacuated injured from the earthquake zone and brought resources and equipment to affected area
Nicholas and Oberheide⁵²	Case report describing the same incident as Ammons	Transport from primary to secondary health care facility. Brought supplies to scene
Nocera and Dalton⁴¹	Two case reports	Transport of experienced crew to the scene. Performed advanced life-saving procedures in one of the incidents
Oestern et al⁴²	Case report describing the same incident as Iselius	Transported patients to more remote hospitals
Pokorny⁴³	Case report	Evacuation of victims in flooded area, otherwise not specified.
Romundstad et al⁴⁴	Case report	Arriving HEMS doctor was appointed Medical Incident Commander and organized medical resources in teams. Transported some of the patients to more remote hospitals
Schwartz and Bar-Dayan⁴⁵	Case report presented in DISAST-CIR met-hodology for uniform presentation. Leiba 2009 used same methodology	Patient transport of the most seriously injured patients
Sollid et al⁴⁶	Case report	Flew out extra personnel and stretchers. Triaged and treated patients acted as medical incident commander and transported the most severely injured from one of the incident sites
Spano et al⁹	Case report	Brought personnel and equipment to site and evacuated the patients when weather allowed
Stohler et al⁸	Retrospective review of four major incidents. Same incidents as Jacobs	The responses included bringing extra personnel and equipment to scene, triage, medical treatment, air surveillance and transport
Urquieta and Varon⁴⁷	Case report	Triage and transport of severely injured victims
Yi-Szu et al⁴⁸	Case report, analysing patterns and outcomes of patients with chest injuries	Secondary transport of patients from field hospitals in earthquake zone.