Lessons Learned of the Medical Crew's first flight to Phuket

When on 28 Dec 04 AIRBUS A310 MEDEVAC was alerted, the first medical crew of the anesthesiology and intensive care departments of the Bundeswehr Hospital Ulm had been ready for deployment for almost two days (since the evening of 26 Dec). Background information on the situation in the disaster area at that time was available only through media reports. Also the crew briefing prior to departure from Cologne airport could not give sufficient answers to the open questions in medical-specialist terms.