Some 250-plus participants including 20-plus partners and exhibitors from 19 countries took part in eye-opening sessions led by renowned experts, unraveling the latest research and future challenges in helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) at the Oslo HEMS Conference from Dec. 4 to 6.
“You cannot go where you want to be by remaining where you are,” said Secretary General Hans Morten Lossius in the opening ceremony of the Oslo HEMS Conference. “Prehospital critical care is dependent on a continuous exploration and development.”
The Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation brought together leading experts and professionals within the helicopter emergency medical service in Europe for the exchange of knowledge and cooperation at conference, held at Soria Moria Hotel in Oslo.
Among the topics covered was ECMO (a heart-lung machine) in HEMS. Dinis Reis Miranda, from the Netherlands, spoke about the large, randomized study of prehospital use of a cardiopulmonary machine during cardiac arrest performed by the crew of the medical helicopter.
Lars Falk from The Karolinska University Hospital gave us insight in how they organize the medical crews. Per P. Bredmose and Torvind Næsheim from Norway showed us that no patients are too sick for transportation.
Norway’s first female anesthesiologist in HEMS
History and histories from more than 50 years of HEMS in Europe and where we are going in HEMS, were discussed by Gerold Biner, Mikael Gellerfors, David Lockey, Hans Morten Lossius and Marius Rehn.
Norway’s first female anesthesiologist in the Norwegian Air Ambulance, Bjørg Ellertsen, spoke about what it was like to work in the medical helicopter service back in the days. Bjørg started in 1980 and is now 87 years old.
“Gro Harlem Brundtland made it easier to be a woman in a man’s world,” she said.
Scientific abstracts
Scientific abstracts lie at the heart of Oslo Hems Conference, playing a pivotal role in advancing understanding of prehospital critical care. Abstracts serve as a foundation for knowledge to achieve best clinical practice in our field.
That’s why they opened the floor to the prehospital care community, presenting their cutting-edge research abstracts. You can read more in the Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine (SJTREM).
Sustainability
Some of the latest research and technological advances in air ambulance services were showcased at the Oslo HEMS Conference — including a model of an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft called CityAirbus NextGen, which could be part of the emergency services ecosystem in Norway in the future.
Earlier this year, Airbus Helicopters and the Norwegian Air Ambulance announced a cooperation exploring the potential impact of eVTOLs in the prehospital health services — for the patient, the environment, and for the emergency medical service.
Heli Demo
The Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation’s very own, separate helicopter dedicated to research and development, provides a realistic platform for our PhD-students and senior researchers.
In the lecture hall they went through both technical information about their research helicopter, and some of the research projects, including incubators, ultrasound, video, points-in-space, fog lights and search dogs.
Outdoors, they ended the conference with a live demo and visit of LN-OOA, our five-bladed Airbus H145 research helicopter.
