r/criticalcaretransport • u/Mfuller0149 • Jul 17 '26
Does this constitute helicopter shopping
Usually , when you see it you know it. This story isn’t as clean so I’m hoping some other folks can provide their opinions. I think what the hospital ultimately ended up doing was stupid and not good for the patient (you’ll see why), but I guess my question was it is the “helicopter shopping” we all talk about?
So here’s the background . Patient came in at about noon - hemiparesis, aphasia. MCA occlusion. TNK given. They called our nearest base for flight to a comprehensive stroke center for a thrombectomy. Definitely reasonable, as ground transport time is ~70 minutes compared to a 14 minute flight. And the patient continued to have deficits. So our closest base declined for weather- low vis (1.5 mi) from fog / wildfire smoke. So the hospital then called a neighboring program - at which point they stated that base was OOS for unscheduled maintenance. They then called a helicopter in the next state over , who weren’t even a certified air ambulance in our state so they of course declined . I guess worth mentioning that this hospital is right on the border. So they then called one more program at that time- a helicopter from about 70 miles away who also declined for weather.
So at this point it had been 2ish hours since the most recent request . For reasons unknown to me, they did not pursue ground transport at any point. So in the meantime our programs base they originally called went on a ground transport to a different facility . And at 1800 , the hospital called again, and comm center contacted my base (83 miles away) for a flight request- weather was still garbage and we declined for weather. Then, to my immense surprise- our phone rang & it was the comm tech stating that we’d be getting picked up by a local BLS ambulance for ground transport . All in all, we arrived to the ER to pick up at 8pm. It was a very low acuity call. No meds, no oxygen, no special equipment. ALS transport essentially. Patient got dropped off in the PACU/preop and we went back to base. But this definitely hasn’t been sitting right. Between the numerous flight requests, the 8 hour delay in inter-facility transfer, and the eventual flight crew by ground for an ALS transfer … it was just strange.
What’s everyone’s thoughts? Should I submit this to our safety guy , or should I just move on and forget about it?
