At this year's annual meeting of its chief medical doctors and chief paramedics, DRF Luftrettung has awarded its research prize for the second time. The aim of the prize is to promote research and strategic planning in pre-clinical emergency care.

The €5,000 prize was awarded to Dr Jan Wnent, who works at the Schleswig-Holstein University Hospital. On behalf of the German Resuscitation Registry, he had submitted a study on the question of how the choice of hospital affects the survival of patients who had suffered a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital.

The DRF board was of the opinion that the study represented an important step towards structured and standardised care of patients suffering a pre-clinical cardiac arrest in Germany. Taking care of this patient group presents a major challenge both for the ground-based and air-based emergency services in Germany.

Topics discussed at the annual conference ranged from paediatric intensive care transport to medical law in practice, with one lecture about emergencies in power generation and biogas plants.

DRF Luftrettung has reached its 40-year anniversary this year. In March 1973, its first helicopter took off from Stuttgart to provide quick medical help at a traffic accident. Today, the organisation uses helicopters in 31 locations throughout Germany, Austria and Denmark for emergency services and the transport of intensive care patients between hospitals, at eight locations around the clock.

In those 40 years it has flown more than 700,000 rescue missions, all funded through the support of sponsors.