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Permalink Reply by Russ on December 22, 2011 at 8:14pm

first of all great job for what you did. the closest i ever came to that was a person at a rest stop having trouble breathing. i was out of my home state and the rest area was really out of the way so the response was extended (about 20 minutes total). handeled without incident, patient transported

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Permalink Reply by FETC on December 23, 2011 at 1:14am

Wade, good for you.  The world is a better place with people helping people.  Well I work at the airport and have alot of experience with this type of emergency. If you tell the flight crew your a doctor or medic, the captain can give you the key to their flight med box. Funny thing is, you can be a shrink, podiatrist, a  chiropractor, or EMT and there are no laws in the SKY about the med box. Often when the aircraft arrives at the gate, the so called doctor who assisted is the first to bail off the plane and not meet the ambulance standing by at the gate.

 

My favorite is the inflight medical that is an hour out from arrival with an unconscious person.  Can't be too serious if the flight is not going to divert to the nearest airport...

 

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Permalink Reply by Wade Seely on December 23, 2011 at 1:27pm

Thanks for the responses.

I think that the major issue with these types of situations is that who really knows what the plane is carrying in the way of supplies; Fetc, you mentioned a med box, which I didn't need in this case, but that I didn't even know exsisted. It makes you think about what if you have a true major medical or trauma on board; even diverting to a different airport you are still going to have to provide treatment for an extended amount of time. 

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Permalink Reply by FETC on December 23, 2011 at 10:46pm

They all have AED's, jump kit, O2, and many have med drug box for breathing, diabetic, cardiac, sedation, emergencies etc. Post 9-11 there have been cases where the passengers have tried to sedate a person, I think the guy who tried to explode his shoe was one of them. They don't advertise the box as it then becomes something that might grow legs. Usually stored in an overhead baggage compartment. 

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Permalink Reply by Wade Seely on December 24, 2011 at 11:10am

Thanks Fetc, that is good information to have. 

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Permalink Reply by FETC on December 24, 2011 at 1:32pm

They also have a system called Med-Link, that the flight attendants call into their base on a satillite phone, and they get connected to a nurse or doctor, (similiar to the Ambulance talking to the ER on scene) and they work through the patient's medical history, chief compaint, presentation, vitals, medications, allergies, etc. and then offer orders (or) suggestions to administer for treatment. By them calling out and asking for a doctor makes it easier for the flight crew (because they are not trained to the RN, EMT or MD level) if my mind serves me correctly they need to have someone who is first aid trained, but I bet that gets sketchy with people calling in sick, or flight hours, or plans changed. Long story short if you are the only one who steps up to help, ask them what resources do they have for you.

   

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Permalink Reply by Wade Seely on December 27, 2011 at 11:34am

Thanks for the info fetc, and basically what I asked them was if they had specific equipment such as a bp cuff, stethescope, and O2. They were on the phone with med-link who we provided the vitals that i took and relayed information to. Overall this wasn't a very extreme emergency and was easily mitigated. With that being said I appreciate the information incase there comes a point in time when I have do deal with a more serious incident while airborne.

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