Quality Indicators for Avalanche Victim Management and Rescue

Alexandre Kottmann, Mathieu Pasquier, Giacomo Strapazzon, Ken Zafren, John Ellerton and Peter Paal
Additional contact information
Alexandre Kottmann: Rega—Swiss Air Ambulance, Zürich Airport, 8058 Zürich, Switzerland
Mathieu Pasquier: Emergency Department, Lausanne University Hospital, 1011 Lausanne, Switzerland
Giacomo Strapazzon: International Commission for Mountain Emergency Medicine (ICAR MedCom), 8058 Zürich, Switzerland
Ken Zafren: International Commission for Mountain Emergency Medicine (ICAR MedCom), 8058 Zürich, Switzerland
John Ellerton: International Commission for Mountain Emergency Medicine (ICAR MedCom), 8058 Zürich, Switzerland
Peter Paal: International Commission for Mountain Emergency Medicine (ICAR MedCom), 8058 Zürich, Switzerland

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 18, 1-9

Abstract: Decisions in the management and rescue of avalanche victims are complex and must be made in difficult, sometimes dangerous, environments. Our goal was to identify indicators for quality measurement in the management and rescue of avalanche victims. The International Commission for Mountain Emergency Medicine (ICAR MedCom) convened a group of internal and external experts. We used brainstorming and a five-round modified nominal group technique to identify the most relevant quality indicators (QIs) according to the National Quality Forum Measure Evaluation Criteria. Using a consensus process, we identified a set of 23 QIs to measure the quality of the management and rescue of avalanche victims. These QIs may be a valuable tool for continuous quality improvement. They allow objective feedback to rescuers regarding clinical performance and identify areas that should be the foci of further quality improvement efforts in avalanche rescue.

Keywords: avalanche; quality indicator; quality improvement; resuscitation; emergency medicine; emergency medical services; rescue; consensus process (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/18/9570/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/18/9570/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:18:p:9570-:d:633369

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().