Blog | Air ambulance | Repatriation from abroad (2024)

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Medical Evacuation Meaning : Defining Medevac

There are numerous reasons to be interested in the history of medical evacuation (medevac). Ranging from legends of soldiers injured on the battlefield to harrowing accounts of travelers falling seriously sick or becoming gravely injured while abroad, medical evacuation has made the transportation of the ill and wounded, usually to a location where they can receive better medical care, possible. Let us look at how medical evacuation has changed over time and how it remains significant in this modern era.

The key points to remember about long-distance medical evacuation missions:

• According to the dictionary, a medical evacuation is the emergency transport of one or more people, usually by air, to the nearest health care facility.
• At Medical Air Service, our medevac ambulance jets are primarily chartered by patients who have severe medical conditions that cannot be adequately treated on-site or who require complex hospitalization that cannot be provided locally.
• We also organize medical evacuation flights in non-urgent situations or in the context of medical tourism.
• Our medical evacuation missions can be as straightforward as transporting a patient by ground ambulance from one location to another, or as complex as transporting a patient by air ambulance from his home country to a world-class hospital.

The definition of medical evacuation

A medical evacuation, as defined by the dictionary, is the emergency transport of one or more people, usually by air, to the nearest health care facility, such as a hospital or a clinic. It is frequently required in life-threatening or other extreme situations in which the individual's life is in grave danger.

Medical evacuation, also called medevac or medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en-route care provided by qualified and experienced medical personnel. In its broadest sense, it is intended to evacuate ill or injured patients from a battlefield, an accident scene or a rural hospital lacking proper medical resources to a better-equipped medical facility.

Medical evacuation missions can be as simple as transporting a patient by ground ambulance from one location to a nearby one, or as complex as transporting a patient by air ambulance from one country to another. Whether ambulance jets or medical helicopters, air ambulances are essentially flying intensive care units manned by specially trained medical staff.

The evolution of medical evacuation through time

As early as 1915, medical evacuation was one of the several general duties performed by the transport unit of air forces. Indeed, this year, which marked the beginning of the First World War, a sick soldier in Serbia was flown to safety by a French aviator for the first time. Over time, wounded soldiers were later transported by air ambulances from Japan to Australia during the Korean War, from military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to the United States, or from Russia to neighboring countries in 2022. As a result, for many people, medical evacuation missions carry a lasting image of conflict. In reality, their meaning is much wider.

At Medical Air Service, medical evacuation is required outside of the military context when a medical condition cannot be adequately treated in the patient’s current location. It entails transferring them to a facility that provides a higher level of care.

When is medical evacuation an appropriate response?

At first glance, a medical evacuation may appear to be the best response for an emergency involving a daring soldier, a serious adventure traveler or an extreme athlete. However, you do not have to fall into one of these categories to require a medical evacuation.

A life-threatening illness, injury, or accident necessitating ambulance flight services can occur anywhere and at any time. At Medical Air Service, our medevac ambulance jets are mainly chartered by patients suffering from such serious conditions that they cannot be adequately treated on-site or require sophisticated in-patient hospitalization that cannot be provided locally.

The following scenarios characterize the success of our international medical flights and long-distance medical evacuation service:

Nothing breaks a parent's heart more than watching their child suffer and not being able to express their distress and needs. This is precisely what happened to one of our tiniest patients. The little boy, who was only a few months old, had tracheal softening, which made breathing difficult. He was admitted to an ICU in a hospital in Lodz, Poland, and needed to be transferred to a University Hospital in Muenster, Germany, to receive adequate treatment for his condition. Because the baby had breathing problems, he needed constant intubation during the long-distance patient transportation to Germany, which could only be done by air ambulance. As a result, we sent out a Bombardier Challenger 650, which has enough room for the baby, his mother, and our medical team. Given the patient's condition, we made sure to dispatch a pediatric medical team as well as an experienced anesthetist.

Since our inception, we have organized numerous medevac missions involving infants. This was certainly true for a 3-month-old Polish boy who had a number of serious medical conditions. Because only a few specialists in the world possessed the necessary expertise and technical equipment to perform his treatment, the emergency procedure had to be carried out in Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to consulting with his parents, we contacted the Boston Children's Hospital, where the surgery would be performed. We agreed on the best date for the ambulance flight so that the hospital staff could complete all of the necessary tests prior to the operation. To transport the infant, we used a Bombardier Global Express ambulance jet. This long-distance jet can handle nonstop intercontinental ambulance flights and was thus ideal for the flight from Krakow to Boston. Of course, there was also room on board for mom, as well as a pediatric medical team.

Our medical evacuation flights can also be used in non-urgent situations, such as an elderly person who needs specialized medical treatment that is only available in another city or who wishes to relocate to a foreign country to be closer to family. Our medical evacuation service also caters to patients interested in medical tourism. Traveling to another country for medical treatment is referred to as medical tourism. There are numerous reasons for these trips, the most common of which are:

• high healthcare costs;
• insufficient medical insurance;
• a lack of specialist-driven procedures;
• a lack of access to cutting-edge technology;
• seeking alternative treatments that are not available/approved in the home country.

What kinds of air ambulances are used for medical evacuation operations?

There are typically two options for transportation when a patient needs to be transferred to another location for medical reasons. The first is ground ambulance transportation, in which an ambulance drives the patient to their destination. While this mode of transportation is usually preferred in certain situations, such as when the distance to be traveled is short, it can take hours for the patient to arrive at their destination and receive the necessary emergency care. Comparatively, medevac flights are faster, more dependable, and more efficient, especially over longer distances. This is especially important in some cases, where quick transportation can mean the difference between life and death.

For medevac flights, a variety of aircraft, including helicopters and airplanes, are used. The options may differ depending on the conditions they are best suited for. Our fixed-wing air ambulances are primarily turboprops or ambulance jets, such as a Learjet. These aircraft are outfitted with cutting-edge medical technology and can transport patients safely to their destination. In addition to being able to operate in and out of short airfields, they are fitted with a large cargo door, which makes loading a stretcher into and out of the aircraft simple. When a suitable hospital is not nearby, larger medevac flights can be used to transport patients to world-class and better-equipped hospitals in other cities, states, or even countries.

As previously stated, helicopters can also be used for medevac services. They are useful for short distances where ground transportation is inadequate. In these cases, helicopters take the place of land ambulances and transport patients to hospitals faster than any other mode of medical transportation. Helicopters are also more versatile, being able to land closer to hospitals or directly on their heliport.

Do you have any additional questions?

If you couldn't find what you were looking for, please visit our FAQ page.

Contact us today!

Contact the experts at Medical Air Service to learn more about the international medical evacuation services.