Fidel Elsensohn
Von der E mpirie zur Evidenz in der modernen alpinen Notfallmedizin – eine historische und kritisc he Betrachtung Modern Alpine Rescue Medicine from Empiric Aspects to Evidence Based Medicine – History and Critical Evaluation
SUMMARY In the early seventies pre-hospital medical care started to establish recommendations and guidelines for on-site treatment of victims. A long process of change within mountain rescue services in Europe began. For decades, evacuation of injured mountaineers was the only and most important goal of every rescue operation not only for sport accidents but even more for catastrophic situations in the mountains. Soon clinical trials showed that early onset of high level treatment improved outcome and reduced recovery time not only in cardiac arrest but also in trauma patients. Though all pre-hospital treatment was mainly based on indoor standards and no preclinical studies have been available we reached the goal of higher survival rates. Implementation of recommendations and guidelines in modern mountain emergency medicine is essential and courses to reach higher standards in treatment of victims in the mountains should be mandatory for all physicians in mountain and air rescue organizations. We summarize the history of mountain emergency medicine, starting with the foundation of IKAR (International Commission for Alpine Rescue) and the structures of establishing recommendations by the medical commission of IKAR (ICAR MEDCOM). Keywords: mountain rescue, evidence based medicine, IKAR MEDCOM 63
