The University of Tennessee Medical Center pushes the frontiers of medicine through various research projects and clinical trials with the Graduate School of Medicine. The following is an overview of LIFESTAR projects currently underway.

• LIFESTAR is participating in a multi-institutional study comparing pre-hospital administration of blood versus crystalloid in the resuscitation of the severely injured patient. This will be a one-year study to assess whether in-flight blood transfusion therapy improves resuscitation endpoints on arrival to receiving trauma centers. Approximately 30 aeromedical programs will participate in the study with equal representation of programs that administer blood and those that exclusively use crystalloids in the pre-hospital setting. The aim of the study will be to settle the dispute over presumed benefits of in-flight blood administration in the pre-hospital setting to severely injured patients.