Abstract
Background. Administration of blood in the pre-hospital environment is becoming more
feasible, particularly in helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) during primary
response and critical care transfers of major trauma patients. The main challenge in this
environment is maintaining a suitable thermal environment for blood transport during
missions that may last for several hours.
Aim. To investigate whether a simple and cost-effective method of storage in a typical
HEMS operation would provide an adequate thermal environment for blood.
Method. A commercially available cooler box and ice packs were used to simulate a blood
transport environment during HEMS missions over three summer and three winter months.
In-box temperature was monitored using an electronic thermometer and data logger.
Results. Temperature data were recorded during 146 missions with a mean duration of
02:01:35 (95% confidence interval 01:46:25 - 02:16:46). All mean temperatures recorded in
the cooler box were within the required 1 - 6°C range; however, of the total temperature
observations recorded, 30% (102/344) during summer were >6°C while 8% (32/384) during
winter were >6°C and 15% (59/384) were <1°C. The maximum temperature recorded overall
was 13°C and the minimum was −3°C.
Conclusion. Low-cost, non-specialised materials used in a HEMS operation were not
adequate for the safe transport of blood.