Guidelines for Arranging Medevacs for Mental Health Patients from the Communities to QGH

A patient may be referred to you by the Community Health Nurse (CHN), community Psychiatric Nurse, or by the RCMP through one of the nurses using a “Form 5” which gives the RCMP authority to detain and transfer a patient to a doctor for a psychiatric assessment.

The community mental health nurse (CMHN) often assesses the patient and arranges a medevac via the community pager system. They can also arrange for an RCMP escort and pre- flight sedation if necessary on a case-by-case basis. If there is no CMHN in the community, this role can be done by a CHN. In both cases, protocol is for the nurse to contact the inpatient mental health nurse to notify them of the medevac.

​

The request for a medevac should be arranged via the community call form and community pager system. The assessment and need for a medevac should be taken seriously and while there is always room for discussing the management of a case, the nurse has the ultimate say in the decision to medevac a patient.