Medflight

Established in 1985, UW Health Med Flight has been providing the highest level of pre-hospital medical care available in the US for over 25 years. We are one of the busiest programs in the country, transporting over 1200+ critically injured and ill patients annually. Training in critical care transport with UW Med Flight is integrated into our standard curriculum for those who choose to fly. We have found that most residents do choose to fly. Both our graduates and current residents rate this experience very highly; as it is one of the few experiences in residency where they are on their own for the first time (with close on-line medical supervision). We have found that this is quite beneficial for the maturation process one must go through in order to become a competent Emergency Physician.

UW Med Flight has always been somewhat unique in its structure compared to other HEMS programs in the US. Since its inception in late 1984, long before any trends in helicopter staffing became established, the program has always been staffed by a dedicated physician-nurse-pilot flight crew model. While common in Europe, Australia, South Africa and other countries, it is highly unusual in North America. What makes it more unusual yet is that while many HEMS programs that do fly with physician do so with residents, we fly the majority of our flights with attending level EM physicians. Most of our Med Flight attending are extremely experienced in the field, and will provide the best introduction to pre-hospital care and critical care transport found anywhere.

Residents begin their preparations to serve as Flight Physicians during their PGY-1 year when they do 10-20 ride-along flights with faculty or senior residents as observers. After their intern year, residents then fly as the solo Flight Physician (as a crew of three with a pilot and nurse) during their ED rotations, and receive online medical support and control as needed from either the Medical Director available by phone, or the faculty emergency physician back at UW by phone or radio. All resident Flight Physicians must complete mandatory pre-requisite training: ICU, Trauma, Anesthesia, OB, ATLS, ACLS, PALS. Ride along flights are usually completed during the intern anesthesia/ultrasound month, where the mornings are devoted to being in the OR and the afternoons are devoted to doing scans in the ED in a flight suit ready to go for when a call comes in. In the course of this training, the resident must also complete crew safety and procedural orientation sessions set by the FAA and conducted by our Chief Pilot before being deemed ready to fly by the Med Flight Medical Director as a Flight Physician with the UW Med Flight Program.

The Flight Physician experience provides extensive opportunities for UW EM residents to direct and provide care to critically ill and injured patients in a spectrum of environments. Many invasive procedures are routinely performed by our Flight Physicians. Opportunities to coordinate care with referring community hospital physicians and EMS ground units for scene calls further augment the educational value of this important component of our training program. Many UW faculty emergency physicians routinely fly on Med Flight both for professional satisfaction and to keep their critical care and procedural skills honed. UW Flight Nurses have extensive critical care training and experience and are a tremendous resource to the Flight Physicians.

Safety is, and has always been a priority.  We are one of the few programs in the country to fly with twin-engine aircraft (currently Eurocopter EC-135’s), helicopter terrain avoidance warnings systems (HTAWS), Night Vision Goggles (since spring of 2009), as well as full time Instrument Flight Rules capability (IFR) with instrument approaches to many of our hospitals, and pilots who are highly trained and experienced to fly IFR.

 The decision to fly is voluntary and has no effect on matching at UW, or what your residency experience may be like once here. It is, however, an incredible educational opportunity; and one that sets our residency program apart.
 
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