Table 1 Mean and standard deviation importance ratings and free text responses for research questions with a mean importance rating of 4.0 (‘Important’) or greater in Round 2

Neurological Emergencies

How does a pre-hospital doctor-paramedic team affect the outcome of patients with severe head injuries?

How accurate are our diagnoses of head injuries? Are patients triaged appropriately to Neurological centres?

We may find patterns of patients we are missing.

For patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI), does pre-hospital anaesthesia and transfer direct to a neurosurgical facility lead to better outcomes than patients with TBI who are intubated in a trauma unit?

Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest

What is the threshold for sending a HEMS team to an out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA)?

I think we need to know and decide what we are targeting.

What is the optimum profile of induction medication for rapid sequence induction (RSI) in different patients in return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) after cardiac arrest?

Does post-ROSC intubation and transfer to a Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PPCI) suite generate better neurological outcomes and long-term survival than those who arrive in a local Emergency Department with a supraglottic airway?

Massive Haemorrhage & Trauma

How sensitive is the ambulance service’s call taking software at identifying a major trauma patient as per the East of England Trauma Network trauma triage tool?

How can patients with non-compressible haemorrhage be identified during the emergency call?

Does intubation of profoundly hypovolaemic (Code Red) patients in the pre-hospital setting improve outcome?

Does the use of predictive tools and alternative RSI drug regimes reduce the incidence of post RSI hypotension in EHAAT trauma patients?

In awake trauma patients, do HEMS teams do enough to manage pain and temperature throughout the pre-hospital treatment?

Do trauma patients attended by EHAAT who are transferred to a major trauma centre have improved quality of life compared to similar patients not transferred to a major trauma centre, i.e. transferred to a trauma unit according to the triage tool?

How accurate is diagnosis of traumatic injuries by EHAAT medical team? A review of working diagnosis of traumatic injuries versus hospital and post mortem records

This would be brilliant.

Miscellaneous

Of the calls pre-alerted into hospital by East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) alone, is there anything the original call details have in common that could have alerted the Critical Care Desk to dispatch HEMS?