Is there a doctor/nurse on board? Would you/have you answered?

Nurses General Nursing

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I have not had this experience, but I would rate it as something every medical professional dreads. Share your experiences, or offer your concerns. Thanks!

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I would do what I could based on my experience. Hasn't happened yet. I sometimes think "what emergencies could I be helpful with considering all the crap I keep iny car" ( just a fun game to play with your self or the family. Helps me justify not cleaning my car as much as I should:)

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Specializes in NICU,ICU,ER,MS,CHG.SUP,PSYCH,GERI.

I did answer. It was on a flight from Tampa to Houston and I am terrified of flying. The plane got up and I felt it begin to descend. I immediately became tachycardic and sweaty. "Is there a nurse or doctor on board" the announcement came.I looked at my husband,who is an excellent ICU nurse,and we just stared at each other. I got out my nursing license and said"Yes, I am a nurse." They took me to the bathroom where an older lady had a severe nosebleed. She was sitting with her head hanging in the sink, dripping blood. I immediately raised her head and got a clean cloth to apply pressure to her nose, pressing up towards the bridge. Then I cleaned out the sink so she didn't have to look at all her blood. I then asked her husband if she was on blood thinners or high bleed pressure medication.(Don't know why...it just seemed like the thing to do.) After things calmed down I just sat a held pressure and kept her calm whild the plane landed. The airlines took my information, saying it was for their report. I received a $100 voucher within the next few weeks. I also stop at wrecks (4).If I have the knowlege and can help, I feel like I should.

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Specializes in EMT-P.
I did answer. It was on a flight from Tampa to Houston and I am terrified of flying. The plane got up and I felt it begin to descend. I immediately became tachycardic and sweaty. "Is there a nurse or doctor on board" the announcement came.I looked at my husband,who is an excellent ICU nurse,and we just stared at each other. I got out my nursing license and said"Yes, I am a nurse." They took me to the bathroom where an older lady had a severe nosebleed. She was sitting with her head hanging in the sink, dripping blood. I immediately raised her head and got a clean cloth to apply pressure to her nose, pressing up towards the bridge. Then I cleaned out the sink so she didn't have to look at all her blood. I then asked her husband if she was on blood thinners or high bleed pressure medication.(Don't know why...it just seemed like the thing to do.) After things calmed down I just sat a held pressure and kept her calm whild the plane landed. The airlines took my information, saying it was for their report. I received a $100 voucher within the next few weeks. I also stop at wrecks (4).If I have the knowlege and can help, I feel like I should.

Your performed admirably... Right on to you :)

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Specializes in CTICU.

I'd answer if necessary, but I would only do something if it was within the bounds of my experience.. eg. kids, I know nothing about so I wouldn't be offering advice there.

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Specializes in ICU, ER, EP,.

oh yes, on a flight to new orleans, there were 14 of us heading to a cruise ship. Some crazy folks decided to put grandma in a plane... who had been passing out but the doctors couldn't find out what was wrong with her, needless to say, they thought putting grandma on a plane was a good idea.

Well first time, husband walkes me up after the anouncement... several people tend to her... she passed out, out of the chair on the floor. So I watch, then get up, she comes around looks bad but is talking. Insists she's fine, back to my nap.

Second time, now I have to get involved, grandma on the floor again, they only have O2, no one has an accucheck machine... nothing (well an AICD, but we don't need that), no code bag, are they nuts??. I'm an ICU nurse, this is crazy. Well put O2 on our sick grandma and the pilot makes an emergency landing to get her to a hospital after I bite off the air attendants head and say next time I'm leaving her there for YOU to deal with. She speaks to the captin.

So long story short, I wished I would have propped grandma back in the chair instead of insisting on a landing with the other nurse:D. Long story short, we all had to purchase new tickets, and spent three days of our cruise without any luggage, but it was the best vacation I've ever had. Everyone on the ship knew us and they were "donating" all kinds of outfits. We were a novelty.

Never knew what happened to grandma, but she needed to be a hospital, and not on a plane. I always say I'll NEVER get involved and on vacation I say I teach kindergarden... but I have yet to do what my brain tells me and let someone else handle it;) I"ll never learn.

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Half way between East coast and West coast on a direct flight, my 1 1/2 year old grandchild suddenly became restless, then feverish then developed nausea. By the time they were hour away from LAX she started to have sever vomiting. By the time the plane started to land she was showing signs of dehydration. There was a doctor and a nurse on board who assisted the parents. The doc advised the pilot to have an ambulance meet the plane because the kid was getting listless. No one asked them, they just stepped up. The kid spent twelve hours in ER in LA getting IV fluids. She perked up and was sent home. I have often wondered if it was H1N1 because it was in the fall before the vaccine was avaliable when that particular virus was just everywhere. Plus she had been in a children museum 48 hours before she got on plane.

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oh yes, on a flight to new orleans, there were 14 of us heading to a cruise ship. Some crazy folks decided to put grandma in a plane... who had been passing out but the doctors couldn't find out what was wrong with her, needless to say, they thought putting grandma on a plane was a good idea.

Well first time, husband walkes me up after the anouncement... several people tend to her... she passed out, out of the chair on the floor. So I watch, then get up, she comes around looks bad but is talking. Insists she's fine, back to my nap.

Second time, now I have to get involved, grandma on the floor again, they only have O2, no one has an accucheck machine... nothing (well an AICD, but we don't need that), no code bag, are they nuts??. I'm an ICU nurse, this is crazy. Well put O2 on our sick grandma and the pilot makes an emergency landing to get her to a hospital after I bite off the air attendants head and say next time I'm leaving her there for YOU to deal with. She speaks to the captin.

So long story short, I wished I would have propped grandma back in the chair instead of insisting on a landing with the other nurse:D. Long story short, we all had to purchase new tickets, and spent three days of our cruise without any luggage, but it was the best vacation I've ever had. Everyone on the ship knew us and they were "donating" all kinds of outfits. We were a novelty.

Never knew what happened to grandma, but she needed to be a hospital, and not on a plane. I always say I'll NEVER get involved and on vacation I say I teach kindergarden... but I have yet to do what my brain tells me and let someone else handle it;) I"ll never learn.

You make a very good point. Not only do people stick physically sick family members on planes but they will send people who are having accute mental problems on a plane. Not to long ago I read about a man who went complete berserk on a plane and injured several people. Turns out he was having symptoms of accute mental illness like paranoia and hearing voices. So his mother took him to airport and stuck him on plane because she didn't know what else to do with him. Huh? Did the woman ever hear of an ER? The last place a person with mental problems should be is on a plane. The confined space makes me squirmy sometimes, no wonder he went crazy.

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my closest experience to the subject happened when I was 10, flying from Brazil to Orlando , FL with my twin n my parents, when almost to MCO, a middle aged Italian man collapsed and immediately my dad (an MD) started doing CPR, his wife and 2 little children were freaking out, my mom tried to keep them calm. When the ambulance got there, my dad gave report in his very broken English. I was so proud of him. I just stood there watching the whole thing. My sister was terrified, I was fascinated, everything felt very surreal. I think that's when I knew I wanted to go into the health care field. The poor man didn't make it. I also remember his wife opening up a huge brief case full of medications. He must've had a long medical history...

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

I was on a cross country flight a few years ago when a man passed out, vomitted and became incontinent of stool. I got up and helped when they called (I was in the back right next to the FA making the accouncement). There were also 2 doctors on the same flight. We stabilized the patient and I returned to me seat when the doctors and I started disagreeing about landing the plane in the nearest city. (the did not want to despite the flight control offering to clear a runway in Ohio.) I felt awful for the poor guy having to sit in soiled clothes for the rest of the 5 hour flight. (also felt bad for the passengers surrounding the patient - as there was a bit of a mess... and can you say recirculated air!!)

I've helped at accidents, people passing out in grocery stores... i am of the mindset that if you can help, you should.

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Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
Some crazy folks decided to put grandma in a plane... who had been passing out but the doctors couldn't find out what was wrong with her, needless to say, they thought putting grandma on a plane was a good idea.

What is the problem with some people when it comes to taking care of their elders?

A few years ago, I took my kid to see "High School Musical On Ice". The tickets were horribly overpriced, so I got "nosebleed" seats to save a few bucks; our seats were on the aisle. We're waiting for the show to start, and this middle-aged couple with a couple kids and grandma are climbing the stairs to our row. These stairs are almost like climbing a ladder -- extremely steep, and quite a long way up, and they had to help grandma up one step at a time.

They get to our row, and rather than make grandma climb over us to get to her seat in the middle, we just moved down enough seats so that their family could sit on the aisle with grandma. They get grandma all settled into the aisle seat, and then the rest of the family goes back down the stairs.

I was thinking that they could have left ONE family member up with grandma while they went to get food and souvenirs -- she was quite elderly and quite winded and sitting amongst strangers, I thought it was pretty rude of them to leave her alone like that. Then I realized that they didn't just go get food... they went to sit in their lower-tiered seats, while leaving grandma all alone in a single nosebleed seat! :eek::eek::eek:

That was a couple years ago, and I STILL get :mad: just thinking about it. That poor lady! If they didn't want to spend time with her, why didn't they leave her at home? Heck, she would have been more comfortable if she'd stayed in the car in the parking lot! *sigh*

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Specializes in NICU.
What is the problem with some people when it comes to taking care of their elders?

A few years ago, I took my kid to see "High School Musical On Ice". The tickets were horribly overpriced, so I got "nosebleed" seats to save a few bucks; our seats were on the aisle. We're waiting for the show to start, and this middle-aged couple with a couple kids and grandma are climbing the stairs to our row. These stairs are almost like climbing a ladder -- extremely steep, and quite a long way up, and they had to help grandma up one step at a time.

They get to our row, and rather than make grandma climb over us to get to her seat in the middle, we just moved down enough seats so that their family could sit on the aisle with grandma. They get grandma all settled into the aisle seat, and then the rest of the family goes back down the stairs.

I was thinking that they could have left ONE family member up with grandma while they went to get food and souvenirs -- she was quite elderly and quite winded and sitting amongst strangers, I thought it was pretty rude of them to leave her alone like that. Then I realized that they didn't just go get food... they went to sit in their lower-tiered seats, while leaving grandma all alone in a single nosebleed seat! :eek::eek::eek:

That was a couple years ago, and I STILL get :mad: just thinking about it. That poor lady! If they didn't want to spend time with her, why didn't they leave her at home? Heck, she would have been more comfortable if she'd stayed in the car in the parking lot! *sigh*

Oh that just pisses me off!

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