Rescue Air 1 and Its Response During the Golden Hour

We have all come to know the "Golden Hour" as the time from the point of injury of a patient to the receipt of definitive care by a trauma surgeon in an operating room. It has been statistically proven that getting a patient to definitive care within the first hour of injury increases their chance of survival up to eighty-five (85) percent.

Studies have shown that "when helicopters are used to transport seriously injured trauma patients in rural areas, the expected mortality rates drop as much as twenty-four (24) to fifty-two (52) percent." (BTLS Advanced Life Support, Second Edition, p. 372).

What we do as clinicians in this Golden Hour has a direct impact on each and every patient's chances for survival and, ultimately, the patient's return to a baseline status as a productive member of society. In fact, for every action/procedure/intervention we perform in the field we are trading seconds and/or minutes off of the patient's Golden Hour. It is our duty, as clinicians in the field, to prioritize and expedite everything we do for the ultimate benefit of the patient that we have sworn to protect. From the equipment/medicines that we carry on each helicopter, the equipment carried on other vehicles within our own county, to equipment and resources within our own region and state, we must be intimately familiar with every resource at our disposal.
Rescue Air 1 can shave critical minutes off of the Golden Hour. In fact, view Rescue Air 1 as an extension to your EMS service. Just like your extrication tool, your ventilator, or your Ambu-bag, Rescue Air 1 is simply a tool to help you better serve your patients.

The "Golden Hour"

In his book Trauma, Fourth Edition (2000), David V. Feliciano, M.D., Chief of Surgery at Grady Memorial Hospital, states that "satisfactory outcomes for injured patients are strongly influenced by the initial care delivered, particularly in the so called 'Golden Hour'…The concept of the Golden Hour can be further defined as the window of opportunity for the institution of life-and-limb-saving measures. For some patients, this window may be only minutes; for others, it may be measured in hours. Approximately sixty (60) percent of all hospital deaths from trauma occur during this crucial period, and inadequate assessment and resuscitation may contribute to the preventable death rate of thirty-five (35) percent reported in some series. The best schema for the proper initial care of seriously injured patients as outlined in the Advanced Trauma Life Support course consists of preparation, triage, primary survey, resuscitation, secondary survey, monitoring and evaluation, and transfer to definitive care." (p. 153)