HEMS BENEFITS IN TRANSFERING SEPSIS PATIENTS ? NORTH-EAST ROMANIAN EXPERIENCE

Sepsis syndrome is a common and have devastating implications on health care systems worldwide. HEMS provide the most benefit when there is a clear, time-sensitive therapeutic intervention available at the receiving hospitals. With the appearance of early goal- directed therapy, sepsis has become a "time critical? pathology, so the patients and EMS systems can benefit from Helicopter EMS (HEMS) utilization. This article describes the Nord-East Romanian HEMS experience with sepsis patients, from 2014 up to 2016. The endpoint of interest is to find a specific indications for air transfer which can help taking decisions into the medical dispatch in case of sepsis. The most important outcomes are potential benefits for the patients, accessing earlier the highest level of intensive care. The benefits of HEMS missions for the remote area are: the ability to provide timely access to higher level hospital, to facilitate the transport of trauma, cardiac, stroke, and also sepsis patients. HEMS crews have ALS capabilities that bring a different level of care to this category of patients, especially in the remote, less capable of according necessary level of care hospitals. Regional healthcare and EMS system?s benefit from HEMS by their capability to extend the advanced level of care throughout a region, minimizing transport times and beginning of advanced medical care, make available direct transport to specialized centers. Presepsin as biomarker, together with clinical findings, could have a high value in helping physicians to take the decision to transfer the patient with sepsis to a higher level hospitals.