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Operations & systems
Emergency care gaps in mountain populations
Emergency healthcare access for transient populations in mountainous environments: a scoping review
Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine · 2026-10-14 · Added 16 October 2026
Scoping review of 23 sources mapped the barriers to emergency care for transient populations in mountains — terrain, weather, communications and thin EMS capacity — with HEMS and on-site clinics the most cited facilitators.
- Study type
- Systematic review
- Design
- Scoping review (PRISMA-ScR)
- Participants
- 23 sources from 737 records
- Main finding
- Barriers clustered around terrain, weather, altitude, communications and EMS capacity, with tourism, pilgrimage and mass-gathering surges straining local resources; HEMS, on-site clinics and specialised training were the reported facilitators
- Caveat
- Scoping review of heterogeneous global evidence with no outcome data or quantitative synthesis
- Bottom line
- Context only
Why it matters in Australia (Medium relevance). Australia's alpine and remote terrain faces the same predictable surge problems around tourist season, but much of the source evidence comes from European HEMS-heavy systems.
Learning goal
Understand how terrain, weather and communications barriers shape emergency care access for transient populations in remote areas.
More
- Topic: Operations & systems
- Daily scan: 16 October 2026
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