Aeromedical retrievals for gastrointestinal disorders in rural and remote Australia: the need for improved access to specialist advice

Fergus W Gardiner; Lara Bishop; Kathryn McMahon; Ezekiel U Nwose; Susan Connor; Jakob Begun; Jane M Andrews

doi:10.1111/imj.14822

Aeromedical retrievals for gastrointestinal disorders in rural and remote Australia: the need for improved access to specialist advice

Intern Med J. 2020 May;50(5):619-623. doi: 10.1111/imj.14822.

Authors

Fergus W Gardiner^{1

2

3}, Lara Bishop^{1

2}, Kathryn McMahon^{1

3}, Ezekiel U Nwose⁴, Susan Connor⁵, Jakob Begun⁶, Jane M Andrews⁷

Affiliations

¹ Royal Flying Doctor Service, Australia.
² National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health and The Australian National University Medical School, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
³ The Australian National University Medical School, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
⁴ School of Community Health, Charles Sturt University, Orange, Australia.
⁵ Department of Gastroenterology, Liverpool Hospital, University of NSW, and Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, Australia.
⁶ Department of Gastroenterology, Mater Hospital Brisbane, Australia.
⁷ Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, RAH and University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.

PMID: 32431041
DOI: 10.1111/imj.14822

Abstract

The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) provides medical care to populations without access to traditional health-care services. From 2014 to 2018 the RFDS conducted 6007 (≈1201/year) aeromedical retrievals for gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. More detailed research is needed to determine specific GI disorders that contributed to this caseload, and in particular inform whether the establishment of a GI specialist service is justified.

Keywords: gastrointestinal; general medicine; rural health services.

MeSH terms

Air Ambulances*
Australia / epidemiology
Gastrointestinal Diseases* / diagnosis
Gastrointestinal Diseases* / epidemiology
Gastrointestinal Diseases* / therapy
Humans
Rural Health Services*
Rural Population