Better Together: Interprofessional Enhanced Critical Care Teams Saves More Lives

A major new study from the UK has found that helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) teams—when staffed with both physicians and paramedics—significantly improve survival outcomes in major trauma. Published in the Emergency Medicine Journal, the 10-year study showed that, for severely injured patients with only a 25–45% chance of survival, physician-paramedic HEMS teams increased survival by more than 3 lives per 100 patients treated.

This evidence reinforces Med Response BC's core belief: the sickest patients deserve the highest-level response possible. Across international studies, advanced interventions like pre-hospital emergency anaesthesia—delivered by physician-paramedic teams—are making the difference between life and death .

In BC, where many rural and Indigenous communities lack timely access to critical care, MRBC’s team-based model aims to close this gap. We believe that we are better together—and that collaborative, interprofessional (paramedic, nurse, physician) prehospital and retrieval medicine teams

must be part of BC’s future.

MRBC is committed to bringing advanced, culturally safe care where it’s needed most—on-scene, in the air, and on the journey to recovery.