Background Helicopter emergency medical rescue training plays an important role at both peacetime and wartime, and there is no uniform standard in terms of training content, mode and assessment in China.

Objective To understand the needs of trainees in the training content, duration and mode of HEMS training in an institution in Beijing, so as to provide reference for improving HEMS training courses.

Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted by using a self-made questionnaire by convenience sampling method. The main content included three aspects: basic information of the personnel, previous participation in rescue training, and needs for helicopter emergency medical rescue training.

Results Among the 45 respondents surveyed, 93.3% of the respondents had participated in pre-hospital trauma treatment training and thought that the results were good, but 51.1% (23/45) of the respondents said that they had not participated in helicopter emergency medical rescue training before, and 84.4% (38/45) of the respondents reported that they had never actually participated in air rescue operations in their work. From the perspective of helicopter rescue capacity demand, the medical evacuation skills of critically ill patients accounted for the highest proportion (97.8%, 44/45), and the demand for trauma life support, treatment process training, safe escape training, hypoxic adaptation training was also high. It was generally recommended that each of the above skills training should not be less than 3 days. From the perspective of training mode, 95.6% (43/45) of the respondents said that the air environment and hospital treatment were quite different, and they were willing to use new technologies such as six-degree-of-freedom aircraft simulation motion platform and virtual reality technology to carry out immersive training.

Conclusion The demand for helicopter emergency medical rescue training is obvious, new technologies can be used to explore the ability of helicopter rescue personnel to generate a new model, and relevant departments also need to build training courses, equipment use and assessment standards for medical personnel integrated in emergency and emergency.