Has anyone else ever been on an airplane when this panicked announcement has been made overhead?
I was on a 2-hour flight last night when this happened to me. I looked around for about 30 seconds and didn't see anyone do anything - there were only about 100 people on board - so I got up and identified myself. Now, I'm a NICU nurse, and I told the flight attendent that right off the bat. She asked if I felt comfortable checking out a passenger that was having chest pains. Now, I don't have my own nursing insurance (matter of preference) but I do believe that the Good Samaritan law protects nurses in this kind of a situation, so I agreed.
He was a slightly overweight businessman who had some serious chicken and egg allergies as a child. He had eaten at a fast-food restaurant in the airport and was eating a nut snack mix (minus peanuts) on the plane. He had sudden chest pain and shortness of breath. I found him to have a strong, even pulse of 80 BPM, resps 20 per minute and shallow, diaphoretic, pale pink, rated his pain as a 6-7, breathing with no audible wheezing upon inhalation or exhalation, denied any heart or GI problems. I told the flight attendent that I didn't know what else to do, but asked if they had an AED on board just in case. She said yes, and oxygen as well. Luckily we never needed that! I suggested that it was possibly indigestion, reflux, an ulcer, or an allergic reaction. She asked me to come up and sit by him (he was in first class) and I did. I sat next to him, checked his pulse a few more times, and talked him through it. After about 20 minutes, he suddenly said, "Wow, I'm suddenly feeling a lot better." and he started breathing deeper and slower. I suggested some ginger ale to settle his stomach and he did drink a bit. By the time we landed, he was talking, chewing gum, up to the bathroom, and seemed much better. The flight attendent asked if he wanted paramedics standing by at the gate and he declined.
His coworker was going to drive him home and promised to make sure his wife knew what happened. I suggested that he go to the ER to get checked out, but he said he didn't think it was necessary. I told him to at the very least call his doctor ASAP and touch base with him, because further examination was warrented. He agreed and said he would do that. After the flight landed, he thanked me for my help and left with his coworker.
Did I do anything I should or shouldn't have?
He did hear my name - I told him my first name and also the flight attendant came by with the manifest to ask my last name "in case they heard anything" and needed to contact me. I don't think I have to worry about legal action - the flight attendants were all there and knew what was going on, and I honestly didn't think we needed an emergency landing or anything like that. I still wished he'd have let paramedics check him out, but he refused when both the flight attendants and I asked.
