CASE 20

The following questions relate to the tasking and coordination of physician-led PHR teams (see also Case 39). Tasking and clinical coordination are crucial aspects of pre-hospital and retrieval medicine. Triage, resource allocation and high-level clinical oversight are key elements to this process.

The following incidents should be considered as being independant of each other. In each case, the decision to mobilise, coordinate and support the PHR team rests solely with you. You have information technology, maps and communications equipment available to you (see picture).

Incident A

The ambulance service has alerted you to an ongoing incident in an urban area of your region. Five minutes previously, multiple calls had been made to the Ambulance Service concerning a motorcyclist who had struck a car at an intersection. The information you have from a member of the public is that the motorcyclist is unconscious.

Incident B

A call is put through to you concerning a shooting incident in a remote village some 50 minutes rotary-wing flight time from the PHR service base. It is 2 am and raining. A single call was made by a female caller who reports a gunshot and a ‘figure lying face down in her garden’. A local ambulance crew has been tasked but will not be on scene for 15 minutes.

Incident C

You are asked by a ground team to activate the helicopter to a semi-rural property 25 minutes flight away. A 75-year-old man has collapsed in his living room and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is in progress.