Del. Admin. Code tit. 16, Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Public Health, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), 4302 - Air Medical Ambulance Service

Definitions

"ABEM" American Board of Emergency Medicine

"ABOEM" American Board of Osteopathic Emergency Medicine

"ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support)" A syllabus and certification of the American Heart Association (AHA).

"Aircraft Type" Particular make and model of helicopter or airplane.

"Air Medical Service" A company or entity of a hospital or public service which provides air transportation to patients requiring medical care. This term may be used interchangeably with the term "air medical program" throughout the document.

"Air Medical Personnel" Refers only to the patient care personnel involved in an air medical transport.

"Air Medical Team" Refers to the pilot(s) and patient care personnel who are involved in an air medical transport.

"ALS Mission" The transport of a patient who receives care during an interfacility or scene response commensurate with the scope of practice of an EMT-Paramedic.

"ALS Provider" A certified provider of skills required for advanced life support.

"ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support)" A syllabus and certification offered to physicians by the American College of Surgeons.

"Base Of Operations" A location from which an aircraft responds to answer a call and to which it returns while awaiting assignment on another call.

"BLS Mission" The transport of a patient who receives care during an interfacility or scene response that is commensurate with the scope of practice of an EMT-B. In the state of Delaware, all interfacility air transports must be staffed at a minimum with an EMT-P.

"BLS Provider" A certified provider of skills required for basic life support.

"BTLS (Basic Trauma Life Support)" A syllabus offered by the American College of Emergency Physicians to provide a standard of care for the prehospital trauma victim.

"Certificate" Signifies a pilot level of competency, i.e., student, private, commercial. It can also refer to the type of service a company is qualified to provide under Federal Aviation Regulations.

"Consortium Program" An air medical service sponsored by more than one health care facility or entity.

"Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)" CQI is a management strategy that integrates dedication to a quality product into every aspect of the service; it brings together a variety of personnel and management tools to examine the sources of problems within the system. CQI seeks to establish and remedy the root cause of problems by identifying and correcting the system's errors, rather than ascribing fault to individuals.

"Controlled Air Space" Air space designated as continental control area, terminal control area, or transition area within which some or all aircraft may be subject to air traffic control.

"Cross Country (CC)" Generally when the destination is greater than 25 nautical miles from the departure point or as designated by a geographic boundary. The DSP cross country is 25 nautical miles outside of the state of Delaware.

"DSP" Delaware State Police

"EDIN" See 'EMS Data Information Network'

"Elective Transports" Air medical transports that may not be medically necessary but are done for patient or physician preference; these often are fixed wing, prepaid scheduled transports.

"ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter)" A radio transmitter attached to the aircraft structure which is designed to locate a downed aircraft without human action after an accident.

"EMS Data Information Network" The Internet-based data collection program of the State EMS System.

"FAA" Federal Aviation Administration

"FAR" Federal Aviation Regulation.

"Head-strike Envelope" The volume of air space which a person's head would potentially move through during any abrupt aircraft motion.

"Helipad" A small, designated area usually with a prepared surface, on an airport, landing/take-off area, or apron/ramp used for take-off, landing or parking helicopters.

"Hot Load/unload" The loading or unloading of patient(s) or equipment with rotors turning.

"IABP (Intra Aortic Balloon Pump)" A cardiac assist machine which can be retrofitted into some types of aircraft.

"IFR" Instrument Flight Rules

"Installed Equipment" Includes all items or systems on the aircraft at the time of certification and any items or systems subsequently added to the aircraft with FAA approval through a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC), FAA Form 8110 or Form 337 action.

"IMC" Instrument meteorological conditions.

"Independent Program" Referring to an air medical service not sponsored by a hospital and operating under its own FAA certificate.

"Infection Control" An approach to reducing the risk of disease transmission to care takers, patients and others

"Local" "Day-Local" Less than 25 nautical miles from departure point to destination point with generally the same terrain elevation.

"Night-Local" The urban area of the helicopter base with enough illumination to maintain ground reference.

The DSP local is within the State of Delaware and less than 25 nautical miles outside the State of Delaware.

"Modalities" Treatment plans and equipment used in the delivery of patient care.

"Mutual Aid Agreements" The establishment of appropriate arrangements with EMS systems of other states for the provision of emergency medical services on a reciprocal basis.

"Out-of-state Program" A flight program that does not have a base of operations within the borders of the State of Delaware.

"Paramedic" A Nationally Registered or state-certified EMT-P

"Personnel, Scheduled" Staff employed by the air medical service with scheduled working hours during which air medical transport is their primary responsibility. This includes those who take call for the primary purpose of being available for air medical transport.

"Personnel, Non-scheduled" Staff employed in patient care roles by another department or facility who have received the helicopter orientation and may be utilized as a second crew member, particularly during a specialty transport

"PHTLS" Prehospital Trauma Life Support: A course offered by the American College of Surgeons to provide a standard of care for the prehospital victim.

"PIC" Pilot in command.

"Point To Point Transport" Transports that have both an origination and destination point within the State of Delaware.

"Prehospital 911 Service" A service which acts as a supplemental resource to the Delaware State Police in carrying out prehospital scene missions.

"Quality Assurance (QA)" QA is a process of reviewing the quality of care delivered through the examination of known or potential problems. It measures the degree of compliance of the service's personnel with established standards.

"Specialty Care Mission" The transport of a patient who requires care by professionals who can be added to the regularly scheduled personnel.

"Specialty Care Provider" A provider of specialty care, such as neonatal, pediatric, etc.

"State Certification, Full" Approval granted, following satisfactory completion of the application process, to an air medical service wishing to provide point to point transport or prehospital 911 service within the state of Delaware. The certification period is three years.

"State Certification, Limited" Approval granted, following satisfactory completion of the air medical program certification process, to an air medical service wishing to provide only one way transport to or from Delaware. The certification period is three years.

"VFR" Visual Flight Rules.