Management control of aeromedical evacuation systems

Aeromedical evacuation has been extensively used by military forces for evacuation of wartime casualties, but has also proven useful in cicilian disaster response. In contrast to the broad coverage of the clinical aspects of the aeromedical evacuation, the operational and management control issues have rarely been addressed. The sophisticated battlefield of the 1980s has had an impact also in air evacuation, adding to the factors to be considered before launching an evacuation mission. The professional control of aeromedical evacuation is, therefore, crucial to the efficient and smooth operation of this high-cost resource. In an attempt to shed light on some of the operational perspectives of military air evacuation, the Israeli experience in the management control of such systems is discussed.