Abstract
Recently, the U.S. emergency medical services (EMS) industry has received a great deal of negative publicity concerning its safety record. It has been noted that the EMS industry has an accident rate that is five times that of the rest of the helicopter industry (Harvey and Jensen, 1987; Harvey, 1986. While it is true that during 1987 and early 1988 the safety record has improved, the industry cannot become complacent. The National Transportation and Safety Board recently conducted a study of the EMS industry and returned specific recommendations for the FAA and NASA. One of the critical factors in EMS missions is the pilot's decision accept or reject a mission. This can often be influenced by such factors as the urgency of the care required. This, along with other factors, may prompt a pilot to accept a mission of unacceptable risk. The present paper presents a computer- based decision aid, based upon earlier work by the Army and Coas Guard, to assist the pilot in objective assessment of the probable risk of an EMS mission. Data for validation of this technique will be collected at an EMS operator and from the EMS Safety Reporting Service.
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