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I was half-dozing on a Southwestern flight when a stewardess came on the PA system calling for any physician to identify themselves. I spoke up, and the crew d
by logjam 14y ago
I was half-dozing on a Southwestern flight when a stewardess came on the PA system calling for any physician to identify themselves.
I spoke up, and the crew directed me toward the back. They already had this incredible medical kit opened in the aisle. I mean they had everything....ACLS drugs, defibrillator, suction, a complete mini-pharmacy, and what looked like a few plastic-7 wound and/or trauma kits at the least. I mean, I was practically drooling over this high-tech kit.
Of course, it was also at that moment that I started frantically running through cardiac code algorithms in my head, and pondering exactly how long it had been since I'd actually dealt with a code in a hospital, with plenty of trained staff, lab support, etc.
Of course, it wasn't any kind of life-and-death situation at all - a young person very stressed and anxious about relocating and the actual conditions of the flight, who'd been hyperventilating, hadn't eaten or had anything to drink for many hours, near-syncopal, etc etc.
I tried my hardest, but couldn't think of a single thing to use out of the medi-kit. I wanted to use it.
I just sat down next to her and listened, which is 90% of medicine anyway.
Southwest was great - gave me two round-trip tickets to anywhere for taking a few minutes to talk.
A colleague at University of Hawaii wrote a paper about dealing with psychiatric emergencies in the air. One thing that stuck out in the paper was the interesting phenomenon of what he called "honeymoon psychosis", with one of a young newly married couple away from home for the first time, possibly on their first flight, all leading to some interesting disturbances on those long pan-Pacific flights.
- walshemj 14y agoWould not they check the passenger list for Dr's first? I remember being told that this was an occupational hazard for Phd's that you might be assumed to be a MD Dr.
- randomchars 14y agoI think that's the reason why. Also if there's no physician on board but there's an EMT/nurse, you wouldn't know that from the passenger list. Plus it's entirely possible that even if there's a doctor, she isn't listed as one.
- alexkus 14y agoObTrivia: In the UK it is convention that surgeons drop the Dr title and revert to Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms. (History: http://www.newmediamedicine.com/forum/modernising-medical-careers/17265-how-exactly-do-you-become-consultant.html#post270302 http://www.newmediamedicine.com/forum/modernising-medical-ca... )
- ReidZB 14y agoJust taking a random guess, but it could be that it's easier to use the intercom and ask everyone instead of digging out the passenger list and scanning to find someone whose prefix was 'Dr' (if such info is even included on a passenger list). This is just speculation, though.
- niels_olson 14y agoAs a physician and government traveler, the online booking service never asks for my title, and even if it did, I'd have to choose: Dr/MD? LCDR/USN/MC? Most identities online don't require a title and I don't offer. It only induces spam.
- dcminter 14y agoJust as an entertaining aside - the British Airways registration page currently includes Viscountess amongst other titles. Even so it's relatively limited - in its early days it contained a bizarre list of titles including the, um, uniquely prestigious "pope". Presumably the result of over-enthusiastic data population of the DB from some authoritative resource.
- JshWright 14y ago> they had everything....ACLS drugs, defibrillator, suction, a complete mini-pharmacy, and what looked like a few plastic-7 wound and/or trauma kits at the least. That's very reassuring. Any intubation equipment (or at least airway adjuncts (LMA, King, etc))? BVM?
- balsam 14y agoDid it look like this? http://www.erieaviation.com/aviationmedicalkits.htm http://www.erieaviation.com/aviationmedicalkits.htm
- roguecoder 14y agoMy father is a doctor who travels a lot and he loved it when the call went out for a doctor. Most of the time it was stress-related, and he'd tell the stewardess that the patient needed a calmer environment, so was there a spare seat in first class? Then, of course, he would accompany them to keep an eye out for anything really wrong. He'd been an army doc and was flying around as a volunteer physician, so he was qualified if anything bad did happen, but most of the time it just involved sitting in first class and talking with the patient. There are worse ways to spend a flight.