Limitation of treatment in prehospital care – the experiences of helicopter emergency medical service physicians in a nationwide multicentre survey

Table 1 Sociodemographic data of Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) physicians in Finland in 2017

Sociodemographic background of the respondents n = 59	n	%
Gender
Men	39	66
Women	20	34
Age
Mean, years (SD)	43	(6.02)
Min – max, years	31–59
First specialty
Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care	53	90
Internal Medicine	3	5
Emergency Medicine	2	3
General Medicine	1	2
Specialization status
Specialized	52	91
Specializing	5	9
Not responded	2	3
Second specialty; Emergency Medicine	9	15
Specialized	5	8
Specializing	4	7
Special competence (SC)^a	37	63
1 SC, Emergency medical services (EMS)	26	44
1 SC, other than EMS	4	7
2 SC, EMS and some other	5	8
2 SC, both other than EMS	1	2
3 SC, EMS and two other SCs	1	2
Work experience in EMS
Median, years (Q1–Q3)	10	(6–16)
Min – max, years	1–27
Work experience as physician
Median, years (Q1–Q3)	15	(10–20)
Min – max, years	1^b – 33
Work experience as EMS physician (n = 55)
Median, years (Q1–Q3)	8.5	(5–13)
Min – max, years	0.5^b – 24

^a The Finnish Medical Association can bestow special competences as additional to the official specialisation system. Special competences relate to certain specialty areas that particular skills are demanded (https://www.laakariliitto.fi/koulutus/erityispatevyydet/ohjeet/)
^b One experienced HEMS paramedic had recently graduated from medical school

ISSN: 1757-7241