What Is A Medical Repatriation
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- Admin
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- medical repatriation, repatriation, what is medical repatriation
- Posted date:
- 02-01-2022
Are you wondering what is a medical repatriation? If you are planning an international holiday or trip and worried about what to do if things go wrong, this article looks at the role of medical repatriation services.
What Is A Medical Repatriation?
No one would need to use medical repatriation services in an ideal world. However, in reality, it is an often overlooked part of people's travel plans when they are heading away on their holidays. From accidental trauma, such as a broken leg while skiing, to more serious conditions such as sudden heart attacks or strokes, no one is entirely immune to emergencies. Therefore, medical repatriation services can prove invaluable when the unexpected happens.
Types of Medical Repatriation
The type of medical repatriation a patient receives will depend on the severity and nature of their illness or patient condition. Naturally, more serious conditions will require faster travel back to the country where you will receive your medical care. This also means that those with more minor injuries or conditions can be medically repatriated on scheduled commercial or air ambulance flights.
These less serious medical repatriations could include patients travelling home as they would normally, only with additional wheelchair access, an accompanying doctor or nurse, or extra room for elevating their legs. However, this is not always possible, given that different airlines and different aircraft will have varying capacities for medical care equipment or procedures.
Even some seriously ill patients can take regular commercial flights. In some cases, they may need to be altered to accommodate stretchers or appropriate medical equipment while the person is in transit.
Some commercial flights can even accommodate intensive care units for seriously ill patients. But these alterations will heavily depend on the airline the aircraft belongs to.
Patients may need to be medically repatriated in an air ambulance for more serious situations.
These aircraft come equipped with the necessary medical tools and equipment to treat those with serious conditions while travelling. Most air ambulance services also have onboard medical crews to care for the patients, such as doctors and nurses.
Medical Repatriation vs Medical Evacuation
Most people will equate these two processes as similar things, but there are key differences between the two forms of medical care and support. Medical evacuation (or medevacs) is the process of providing patient transport to those who cannot access appropriate medical care or medical facilities in the local area.
Medical repatriations differ in that rather than transporting a patient straight to the local hospitals, which some air ambulance services provide, repatriation involves transporting a patient who can fly back to their home country. The main transports used in medical repatriations are air ambulances, helicopters, or commercial flights, typically business or first class.
Medical repatriations are never ideal and can often be stressful for those using these services. As with any medical emergency, having professional medical support can provide great reassurance.
All medical repatriation companies provide a qualified medical team with doctors and critical care nurses to accompany the patient on their journey as a medical escort.
This helps make the patient more comfortable and reassure them that they are safe while they travel.
Challenges During the Medical Repatriation Process
Given the global scale of medical repatriation services, helping patients return to their home countries from anywhere in the world, there are naturally going to be a few challenges that these professional services have to overcome.
The biggest being the language barriers between the repatriation services and the country where the patient is currently located.
Depending on the country the patient is visiting when they fall ill or injured abroad, it will naturally present unique language challenges. However, most professional medical repatriation services hire expert translators to help secure the patient's release from the right facility in their visiting country. The wellbeing of the patient and ensuring they get home safely is the first and only priority of a medical repatriation service, so having experts on hand who can make the process as easy as possible is a necessity.
The repatriation service needs to be able to contact the medical professionals in the right facility they are retrieving the patient from, ensuring they have the appropriate level of medical care and consistent support as per the patient records.
Most professional repatriation services hire translators for French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Russian, Polish, Dutch, Turkish, and four Arabic dialects.
Other challenges medical repatriation services have to contend with include severe weather, political turmoil and restricted airspace. Most professional services have encountered these challenges before or have healthcare staff who know how to handle them.
Again, the patient's safety is the number one priority. Any medical repatriation service will work tirelessly with any local authority to ensure the patient gets all of their individual requirements or treatment until they are repatriated home.
FAQ
Given that emergencies can strike at any time and that travelling abroad is as popular now as it ever has been, the answer is that medical repatriations happen all the time. Typically, professional repatriation services transport between 3 to 4 patients per month back to their home countries from overseas. Naturally, no one plans to fall or get injured while travelling or on holiday, but the unfortunate reality is that accidents do happen.
Before the patient boards any form of international transport, medical professionals from the medical repatriation service will liaise with the physicians and medical staff on the ground who have been looking after the patient. They will assess the patient's condition and whether they are fit enough to fly.
The medical crew in the air ambulance will perform another pre-flight medical evaluation just before the patient boards the air ambulance again to check that they are in a stable condition and can make the journey safely. These checks are done to ensure the patient is kept safe and stable before they are flown home.
Most patients will be given medical clearance for the flight in the majority of cases. The air ambulance aircraft used by medical repatriation services contain all the necessary medical equipment to keep the patients stable while they travel. All of the equipment you will find in a hospital room can be found on these aircraft. The air ambulance will also fly at higher altitudes than other aircraft to eliminate turbulence for a gentler flight, especially for critical care patients.
All medical repatriation flights will be equipped with stretchers for moving the patient in and out of the aircraft. Alongside this, there will be ventilators, an oxygen supply, three-channel IV pumps and drips. Medical professionals will also attend the flight, such as doctors and critical care nurses, to ensure the patient is comfortable and safe while they travel. They will have received all appropriate medical training and be able to administer pain medication when required.
Medical Repatriation Service
If you would like to find out any further information about our medical repatriation our friendly team are always on hand to answer your questions and give our customers peace of mind.
