Here on the On Call blog, we’ve covered all things travel risk management (TRM), with the goal of sharing information and resources that you will find helpful as you continue to enhance your organization’s travel health and safety initiatives. As part of this goal, we thought it would be useful to create a holistic ‘TRM glossary’ that defines each term and also offers some helpful additional links in case you want to learn about some of them in more depth. We hope you will bookmark this post so you can refer back to it time and time again – feel free to pass this on to others you think would find this useful as well!
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Air ambulance: a small aircraft, often a Lear 35 or 36 jet, used to transfer patients who require treatment at a more advanced medical facility than their current facility. An air ambulance is used for medical evacuations for critical patients and is truly an ambulance with wings, staffed by medical professionals.
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Assistance coordinator: An On Call International assistance coordinator is dedicated to the care and oversight of medical, security, and travel assistance cases for individuals traveling around the globe.
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Business impact analysis (BIA): a systematic process to determine the potential consequences to a traveler and/or organization as a result of a disaster, accident, or emergency and to gather information needed to develop recovery strategies accordingly.
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Centralized assistance: On Call’s centralized assistance model includes one simple line of communication through our U.S.-based Global Response Center, supported by our local offices worldwide; this helps minimize back and forth that can cause miscommunications, delays, and costly oversights.
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Crisis management team: the group of individuals at an organization dedicated to assisting travelers affected by a crisis; member(s) from this group will also liaise with their travel risk management provider to provide crisis response support per pre-determined practices, protocols, and processes.
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Crisis response exercise: an in-person drill, facilitated by an On Call Global Security Specialist, simulating a real emergency. The exercise is aimed at testing an organization’s preparedness for managing a future crisis situation.
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Crisis response protocols: the list of systematic steps, often outlined during a crisis response exercise, that enables an organization’s crisis team to prepare for, mitigate, respond to, and recover from a crisis situation.
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Customized program: On Call’s unique approach to helping clients develop and enhance their travel risk management programs to meet their specific duty of care objectives.
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Duty of care: an organization’s legal and moral obligation to mitigate risks for its traveling constituents. Organizations that fail to protect their people risk significant legal, financial, and reputational damage.
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Duty of loyalty: a traveler’s obligation to make reasonable effort to avoid unnecessary risks and follow the policies and procedures their organization puts in place to protect them.
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Emergency action plan (EAP): a formal document that contains protocols and procedures for handling emergencies abroad. An EAP is aimed to help ensure an organization is prepared to handle a crisis and that all key stakeholders understand the actions to support a successful response. Emergency Action Plans can be tailored to a variety of formats depending on an organization’s unique needs.
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Fit to fly: a term used in On Call’s Global Response Center to describe when a traveler is medically cleared to travel. A traveler’s treating physician completes a “fit to fly form” for On Call’s medical team to review; this important documentation helps On Call determine the appropriate method of medical transportation and in-transit care the individual may need.
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Global assistance services: An On Call client’s access to our Global Response Center for 24/7/365 support during any type of travel emergency.
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Global response center: On Call’s 24/7 response center, staffed by assistance coordinators, global security specialists, doctors, nurses, transportation coordinators, and more. The individuals working in the Global Response Center handle travel emergencies big and small.
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Global security specialist: a professional specializing in safety and security, specific to international and domestic travel.
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Guarantee of payment: the action of “guaranteeing” payment to a medical facility, prior to services being rendered, in order to secure treatment for a traveler seeking medical care.
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Holistic program: a comprehensive travel risk management program that integrates medical and security emergency response resources with proactive health and safety initiatives that can help an organization reduce its risk exposure and the burdens these exposures can bring.
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Hospital-to-hospital transfer: a transfer from one hospital to another. This is typically accomplished by a medical evacuation or medical repatriation.
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Incident briefing: a formal meeting held by crisis management personnel to update key stakeholders during an incident or event.
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Initial letters: necessary medical documentation needed to ensure a patient has the safe, medically-appropriate care they require, especially with regard to medical transportation. Typically includes medical report, medical release authorization, and “fit to travel” forms, which specify the method and equipment needed for safe medical evacuation or medical repatriation. Also typically includes a form for other insurance information. Learn more here.
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Medical consult: a consultation between a traveler’s treating doctor and On Call’s in-house physician(s) to discuss the traveler’s medical care.
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Medical escort: a licensed professional capable of administering medication, monitoring a patient’s medical condition, and accompanying a patient during a medical evacuation or medical repatriation.
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Medical evacuation: the transfer of a patient from one hospital to another for emergency medical treatment not otherwise available at the first hospital. An On Call medical evacuation can happen via private air ambulance with a highly-trained staff of medical professionals or via commercial air with one of our Rescue Nurses, depending on the patient’s needs.
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Medical monitoring: medical oversight by On Call’s team of in-house physicians and nurses, to monitor a traveler’s medical care when they are hospitalized away from home.
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Medical repatriation: if a traveler is away from home and is treated at a medical facility, medical repatriation provides a transfer to their home or to a medical facility near their home for continuing care. The transportation may include the assistance of a medical or non-medical escort if deemed medically necessary.
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Mental health crisis management: behavioral health support for organizations and their travelers both during and after crisis situations. These services help to equip your travelers with the resiliency they need to move forward.
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Natural disaster evacuation: an evacuation following a natural disaster, such as an earthquake.
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Non-medical escort: a person without medical training who can provide physical and logistical support to a patient during a medical repatriation, when a trained medical professional is not medically necessary. This individual is often a friend or family member.
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Political evacuation: an evacuation due to a political crisis, such as a political coup, when a traveler is in danger of imminent bodily harm and/or it is necessary for a traveler to leave their host country for safety reasons.
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Proactive assistance: On Call’s unique suite of services dedicated to helping travelers, their families, and their organizations prepare for and even prevent travel emergencies. Proactive assistance services can include crisis response exercises, administrator training workshops, recorded traveler orientations, customized training webinars, traveler outreach content, and more.
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Program assessment: the evaluation of an organization’s current risk management program to provide actionable feedback with the intent of helping to improve and/or enhance the program, better protect a traveling population, and help an organization meet its duty of care.
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Reactive assistance: On Call’s suite of services dedicated to helping travelers, their families, and their organizations manage travel emergencies when they arise. Reactive services can include emergency assistance services, day-to-day assistance services, and other optional/customizable enhancement options.
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Repatriation of remains: the transfer home of an individual’s remains when he or she passes away during a trip. This can include the coordination between sending and receiving funeral homes, procurement of the appropriate shipping container, and managing necessary legal paperwork to facilitate the transfer.
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Rescue nurse: a licensed On Call medical nurse who travels to a patient’s location for the purpose of assisting them during a medical repatriation. Their support includes monitoring the patient’s medical condition, administering medications as necessary, and providing medical and logistical support before, during, and after a medical repatriation flight. Rescue nurses provide bed-to-bed service.
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Risk assessment: a formal document, created and disseminated prior to a trip, that identifies potential risks associated with a destination, how to reduce or avoid them, and how to respond to emergencies when/if they occur.
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Risk intelligence: an organization’s ability to gather information that will successfully identify uncertainties in their travel risk management programs; organizations with high-risk intelligence tend to make more informed decisions on behalf of their travelers and their organizations.
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Risk monitoring: the continuous tracking and evaluation of the risk levels inherent to an organization’s traveling population.
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Situational awareness: a traveler’s perception of environmental elements and events with respect to their personal space and the projection of how to safely and effectively respond to situations that result in heightened awareness.
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Travel assistance: a common industry term that describes support services for travelers during an emergency, such as medical evacuation, lost luggage or passport, medical referrals, prescription replacement, nurse helpline, emergency funds assistance, medical monitoring and more; travel assistance can sometimes be confused with travel insurance, which provides monetary compensation for losses that occur while traveling. Travel assistance provides travelers with logistical and medical support for travel problems big and small.
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Travel policy: a formal document that outlines policies, procedures, and best practices for those who travel on behalf of their organizations. Travel policies are aimed at protecting the safety, health, and wellbeing of an organization’s traveling population.
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Travel risk brief: an informational guide designed to give an ‘at-a-glance’ overview of security, medical, and general travel considerations for a particular destination.
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Travel tracking: the tracking and monitoring of an organization’s traveling population, usually achieved with a technological tool, such as Searchlight, that allows administrators to instantly identify, locate, and communicate with their travelers in the event of an active or potential security incident.
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Tripwires: events or triggers, predetermined by an organization, that require an immediate planned reaction, such as an increased security posture that serves to protect a traveling population.
Want to learn more about all things travel risk management? Contact us today!
For over 25 years, On Call International has provided fully-customized travel risk management and global assistance services protecting millions of travelers, their families, and their organizations. Contact us today and watch our video to learn more. You can also stay in touch with On Call’s in-house risk management, travel health and security experts by signing up for our quarterly Travel Risk Management (TRM) newsletter.
