key: cord-1035930-jgfthsvy
authors: DUCHATEAU, François-Xavier; RAMIN, Geoffrey; CASTRO, Melissa-Thérèse; LEPETIT, Anne
title: COVID-19: From the short term crisis mode to a long term maintainance mode, International Medical Assistance to reinvent?
date: 2020-06-11
journal: Air Med J
DOI: 10.1016/j.amj.2020.06.005
sha: b74b0868b2162724b92f7466ce1b1b15d839da21
doc_id: 1035930
cord_uid: jgfthsvy

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how to repatriate patients, which is a core activity for International Medical Assistance, continues to evolve. The 3 main changes include:

We are already utilising a more local/regional based approach which involves moving patients to closer proximity centres capable of supporting their treatment needs with a view to a later staged return to their home country.

Quarantine restrictions limiting the capacity to deploy medical escorts to many destinations now have to be factored into decision making. These restrictions are constantly changing, forcing different approaches to individual case management. As a consequence we have had to review and make significant changes to our existing guidelines and standard operating procedures in this regard.

Evacuating patients aboard scheduled commercial aircrafts is both feasible and cost-effective and is the preferred option when immediate transfer is unnecessary. It is often not understood by those outside this area of specialization that this can include highly complex patients -even carefully selected ventilated patients as an example. Compared to specialized fixed-wing air ambulances, commercial aircraft offer improved flight stability and allow long haul flights without as many time inefficient technical and refueling stops and at at least half the cost [2, 3] . We anticipate a continued greater use of air ambulances as compared with commercial aircraft for medical repatriation as exemptions for cross border movements are easier to obtain when using dedicated medical transport options.

As we expect these profound changes to be required for the foreseeable future, the structure of our operations has had to be reinvented and will likely evolve further over time.

Covid-19: Response plan for International Medical Assistance companies

Epidemiology of aeromedical evacuation. An analysis of 504 cases

Use of Commercial Aircraft for Emergency Patient Transport