Improved flight following through continuous quality improvement

Introduction: Flight following is a key component of an air medical transport service's safety program. National standards require conscientious adherence to flight following. EastCare monitored its compliance with internal flight-following requirements for three years. Setting: EastCare is a single-helicopter, hospital-based air medical transport service located in a rural region of the southeastern United States. It has a full-time staff of flight nurses, pilots and communications specialists. Methods: A continuous quality improvement (CQI) process was initiated to delineate specific areas requiring improvement. These areas were discussed at the air medical service's monthly CQI meetings. Results: In 1989, the communications specialists achieved flight following intervals of < or = 15 minutes in 98% of attempts. In 1990 and 1991, the frequency of flight-following intervals of < or = 15 minutes were 98.8% and 99.6%, respectively. The CQI process pointed out educational requirements, technological problems and other areas for improvement. Conclusion: The use of a structured CQI process for this service directly contributed to consistently strong compliance in the frequency of flight following.