我國離島急重症病患之空中醫療轉送實務經驗: 以金門為研究對象

Kinmen, a remote island with a very low physician density, is located on the west side of Taiwan Strait. The distance is 360 km away from Taiwan. In Kinmen, there are only two local hospitals, Kinmen County Hospital and Kinmen Military Hospital. Thus, there is a shortage of manpower in neurosurgery, neurology, as well as a lack of specialists in infectious diseases. Thus, these two hospitals can only play a limited role in the provision of local accident and emergency healthcare. Aeromedical transportation of critically ill patients to Taiwan inevitably became the only solution. However, up now, regular weekly aeromedical transportations as well as a 24-hour dedicated helicopter service have not been able to meet the local residents' expectations. The present study reports the experience of 84 patients who were evacuated by fixed-wind aircraft. The evacuations consisted of a total of 75 flights from January 1 to December 31,2002. A professional medical team with aeromedical equipment was involved in each evacuation. The evacuations were completed within 6-8 hours and the expenses were lower than the present dedicated helicopter service. In conclusion, such an evacuation service may contribute to a better quality of emergency and critical care medicine for all residents in Kinmen. This successful experience may be a good model for other remote islands such as Penghu and Lianchian in the future.