Medical Escort: Maximum health guarantee during repatriation
08 - July - 2019

Medical Escort: Maximum health guarantee during repatriation

The Semesur Assistance´ experience in medical escort´s services offers maximum efficiency and speed in the execution of the patient´s transport from origin to destination.

Being injured or sick away from home can be one of the most uncomfortable situations in your life. You are outside your comfort zone, surrounded by people who speak language other than yours, and with unforeseen illness that has truncated your journey. At that time, the priority is to get your health back and continue your vacation without worries or return home as soon as possible. And that is precisely the objective of the medical escort service of Semesur Assistance, to offer maximum health guarantees during your vacations and the repatriation of an injured or sick patient.

And that is precisely the objective of the SEMESUR ASSISTANCE' medical escort service, to offer maximum health guarantee during your vacations and the repatriation of an injured or sick patient. Thanks to our years of experience, we have a technical and human team that is in charge of organizing and executing the patient´s transport from origin to destination.

Everything starts with communication with your insurance company. If you don´t have any insurance or don´t find it, you can also contact our professional team. We will look for the best solution: either we will solve the problem with your insurance company or we will manage it directly, quickly and privately.

The first step is for our medical team to carry out an assessment or triage of the patient in order to determine the necessary and suitable measures to correctly carry out their medical care at the location or repatriation. For this reason, each of the medical reports (if available) is analysed and it is verified that the patient is fit to start the trip.

The most common cases derive from traumatology such as fractures, but there are also many repatriations with patients suffering from heart disease. We offer also medical escorts for one – off situations such as for patients with pneumonia.

Once the patient´s conditions have been analysed, the SEMESUR ASSISTANCE team decides whether repatriation is carried out by means of a medical flight (Air – Ambulance) or a medical escort on a commercial flight. In the first case, we are talking about an air ambulance flight that offers the same conditions as a mobile ICU and includes a complete medical team, consisting of nurse and doctor, both professionals in medical escorts. In the case of commercial flight escorts there are several types:

  • Business: the patient will travel in first class accompanied by a doctor or nurse and the necessary medical equipment.
  • Economy: the patient will travel in economy class and will be accompanied in the cabin by a doctor or nurse and the necessary medical equipment.
  • Extra seat: using two or three seats for trauma patients who must have their leg extended or need more space for their comfort.
  • Stretcher: there are patients who cannot travel either seated or reclined as they often suffer from pathologies such as fractures of the hip, back, femur… For this reason we use a stretcher in the cabin of commercial flights. In addition, it usually incorporates a vacuum mattress so that the injured person travels completely stretched and does not suffer abrupt movements during the flight.

In the escort services we not only offer the best human team, we also have the latest medical technology to carry out these repatriations. An example of this is the Inogen One onboard oxygen concentration device for patients who require oxygen support during flight (up to four litres). We are talking about medical devices that must be approved by the authorities of International Civil Aviation, to be allowed as a medical device equipment on board. All the patients attended by SEMESUR ASSISTANCE will have it at their disposal without any increase in cost.

On the other hand, and bearing always in mind that the patient´s health is the top priority, SEMESUR ASSISTANCE provides also cost containment service. That is why an initial quotation to the medical company or private patient is made, which, once the service is finished, is reviewed in order to make a detailed economic readjustment.

As soon as the quotation is given the green light, the operation starts, the patient is visited at the health center or home (anywhere in the world) where he or she is and is informed of the time schedule and route stages. This visit takes place 24 hours before the trip takes place and a direct contact is also made with the doctor who has treated the patient in that hospital (in the case that the patient is in a private home or hotel, the discharge document is requested).

Meanwhile, our own travel agency takes care of a fast and effective way of managing all the necessary flights and permits with the airline, that offers the most comfortable and safe travel for the patient. Having this department within the SEMESUR ASSISTANCE team means greater availability of flights and direct ticketing (immediate purchase and ticket issue). In addition, the necessary steps are taken so that the injured with reduced mobility receive the necessary assistance for their displacement both in the airport of origin and destination. In this way, you will not suffer any discomfort in getting from the ambulance to the seat or stretcher of your plane. During the entire operation, the medical insurance, if available, or the person designated by the patient are informed in real time, and the patient is transferred in the necessary vehicle to the selected airport.

Logically, the doctor or nurse who performs the escort will carry out a periodic and continuous monitoring of the patient during the accompaniment, and once landed at the destination location, will proceed in the same way as at the origin until the patient is transferred to the medical center or final destination in the necessary conditions.

After the delivery of the documentation and the relevant reports to the doctor who receives the patient in the medical center, the service of medical escort and medical transfer is finished. None of the steps is improvised. We have more than 27 years of experience to back us up.

Everything is planned and executed in the shortest possible time as the entire team of SEMESUR ASSISTANCE puts its maximum effort and sensitivity to transform an uncomfortable situation such as an injury abroad into a return home in the best and most comfortable conditions possible.

    Share: