January 2014
| Business World Magazine | 91
ence, but it was also a first for the hospi-
tal with which she worked. While waiting
for the helicopter to land, Frazier realized
that she knew nothing about how to en-
ter it safely, where to sit, how to attach
the safety belt, or how to communicate
with the pilot. She had never even been in
such close contact to a helicopter before.
For someone who had years of training
and experience as a trauma nurse, Fraz-
er says she suddenly felt unsure of her-
self. To compound matters, the helicopter
was such that the patient stretcher could
only be loaded one way, something not
realized until the patient was loaded the
wrong way, which ultimately led to a pro-
cess of offloading and reloading to com-
pound her frustration. The patient arrived
safely at the hospital, and as this marked
a first, Frazer recalls how numerous staff
were waving and cheering from the win-
dows. Frazer wasn’t so cheerful, and she
inevitably inquired as to whether anyone
had considered the prudence in person-
nel knowing something about helicopter
safety. The decision was made that no
more patients would be transported until
staff had been properly trained.
Through the work of CAMTS, air
medical transport providers, along with
their personnel and the patients for which
they provide care, have performance
standards that not only cover the range of
necessary training and education, but also
aspects of management, medical equip-
ment, insurance compliance, communi-
cation systems, utilization of assets, and
more.
THE ACCREDITATION
PROCESS
CAMTS offers a program that allows
providers to undertake a voluntary evalu-
ation of their compliance with accredita-
tion standards by demonstrating their abil-
ity to deliver service of a specific quality.
That begins with an application process
which allows the provider to receive a
self-study document that addresses all as-
pects of requisite performance standards.
Providers can monitor and measure them-
selves according to the protocols outlined,
having up to a year to conduct their own
performance reviews of the desired ob-
jectives. Upon submitting documentation
of compliance, CAMTS will review crite-
