Research & Audit
EMRS is committed to ongoing research and audit around all aspects prehospital and retrieval medicine. Research and audit has been a core part since the start of the voluntary pilot scheme in 2004 and has expanded as the service has grown. There is an active research portfolio covering topics including advanced airway management, long term outcomes following critical illness in rural areas and modelling of national retrieval service activity. In collaboration with the University of Glasgow, the service is now supporting an ongoing programme leading to an MD in retrieval research.
Trainees working with the service undertake a research project as part of their secondment to EMRS and it is expected that this project will lead to appropriate presentations and publications, as well as informing service change. The retrieval practitioners are also actively informed in research projects along with medical students undertaking elective studies. Over the past 10 years, EMRS has published over 30 articles related to prehospital and retrieval medicine as well as presenting this work across the globe.
As part of our clinical governance, EMRS undertakes internal audits of our service against external standards. We have recently completed audits against AAGBI 2006 Brain Injury guidelines and ICS Guidelines for the Transport of the Critically Ill Adult (3rd edition 2011).
EMRS is now part of the EUPHOREA group, collaborating with partner aeromedical organisations around Europe and beyond in research projects. We also are part of an international benchmarking project comparing aeromedical standards of service around the world.
selection of recent PUBLICATIONS
Association between socioeconomic status and outcomes in critical care: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Low socioeconomic status is associated with mortality in critical care. Editor’s Choice.
Featured in Critical Care Reviews & presented at Society of Critical Care Medicine Journal Club.
McHenry RD, Moultrie CEJ, Quasim T, Mackay D, Pell J. Critical Care Medicine. 2023; 51(3):347-356.
Equity in the Provision of Helicopter Emergency Medical Services in the UK
The provision of HEMS is consistent with the Inverse Care Law; resource is distributed inversely to need.
Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine. 2024: 32;73 & Retrieval 2024
Geographic isolation, rurality, and outcomes after critical illness: a retrospective cohort study of emergency admissions to critical care units in Scotland 2010-2021
McHenry RD, Moultrie CEJ, Corfield A, Lone N, Mitchell R, Mackay D, Pell J. British Journal of Anaesthesia. 2025
The association between socioeconomic status and outcomes in critical illness: A national cohort study of emergency admissions to critical care units in Scotland 2010–2021
McHenry RD, Moultrie CE, Corfield AR, Lone NI, Mackay DF, Pell JP. Journal of the Intensive Care Society. 2025;0(0).
Pre-Hospital and Retrieval Medicine in Scotland: A retrospective cohort study of the workload and outcomes of EMRS in the first decade of national coverage
Development of Pre-Hospital and Retrieval Medicine in Scotland, with geospatial analysis.
Socioeconomic status is associated with pre-hospital critical care activation.
McHenry RD, Moultrie CEJ, Cadamy A, Corfield A, Mackay D, Pell J.
Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine. 2023; 31:39.
Presented at European Society of Emergency Medicine, Barcelona. September 2023.
The association between clinician dispatch and tasking efficacy in prehospital critical care: A retrospective cohort study
Pre-hospital critical care clinician dispatch is associated with higher tasking numbers and shorter call times.
McHenry RD, Mayhew R, Esposito M, Parke T. Air Medical Journal. 2025.
Presented at Decision-Making in Emergency Services Conference & Retrieval 2025.
Association between pre-hospital critical care and functional outcomes in moderate-to-severe head injury: a retrospective cohort study
McHenry R, Norman S, Hardern RD, Smith C. Emergency Medicine Journal. 2025.
Using the properties of the odds ratio to improve precision in meta-analysis: an update on the benefits of targeted deployment of physician-led interprofessional pre-hospital teams on the care of critically ill and injured patients
McHenry RD. Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine. 33, 36 (2025).
Support from Advanced Practitioners in Critical Care for Ankle Fracture Dislocation
Enhanced pre-hospital care is associated with perception of benefit in severe ankle injury.
Morrison C, Renfrew L, McHenry RD. Journal of Paramedic Practice. 2024; 15(4):156-163.
Hypothermic Cardiac Arrest: A case report of an unexpected survivor using aeromedical transportation in Nepal - Case Report. Manuscript Preparation & Evidence Review.
The capability and potential of aeromedical retrieval in a low-to-middle income country.
Subedi A, Khanal K, [McHenry RD] et al. Air Medical Journal. 2023
The association between geospatial and temporal factors and pre-hospital response to major trauma: a retrospective cohort study in the North of England
Geographic isolation is associated with greater likelihood of enhanced pre-hospital response in trauma.
McHenry RD, Smith CA. Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine. 2023; 31:103
Abstract - Emergency Medicine Journal. 2023;40:885.
Regional retrospective observational analysis of the impact of enhanced care teams on trauma morbidity and mortality outcomes
Smith C, McHenry R, Norman S, Harden R. Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine. 2025