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.
This was from a previous discussion on this list in January 2006, on the same subject. Here is what I wrote:
Emergencies in the air while I was flying (both United Airlines), happened on 2 flights within a year of each other (2000)...and I do not fly that much! The first one was an elderly man I was sure was dead, but I opened his airway, I laid him down, and he began to breathe! I was so relieved, because starting CPR in an airplane was something I did not want to do!!
The 2nd incident was an Insulin Shock , he was so out of it that I could not get anything oral to stay in his mouth (he was combative and spitting everywhere). Passengers told me he was drunk,I immediately checked his wrist, and neck, and found his "Diabetic" medic alert tag. So with help from a passenger, I started an IV, and gave D50. I then spoke with the United Airlines MD via phone, and he said it was up to ME :uhoh21: if we needed to do an emergency landing. After the dextrose, he was awake, so we did not need to land. The first on flight emergency, I did ask to land (not realizing they were really listening to ME)!
By the way, as long as you are IN THE AIR, you are covered under the Airlines MD. I asked this question AFTER I had done what I needed to do. If the plane is on the ground, you are not covered if you start IV's, give meds, etc The flight Attendant asked for my Nursing License, and she gave me the "Airplane Medical Kit". I am glad that AED's are on most (if not all) airplanes now. That is what asked for on the first emergency, and they did not have one. I (and the pt) really lucked out that BASICS of ABC's worked!!
Where did you get the IV and 50? Was that in their "kit"?
All I can contribute is that I return-transported a baby on a comercial airline flight; used their O2, everything else I brought w/me-meds, emergency drugs, IV stuff, monitors.
Best part of that episode was that it was basically a free trip to Hawaii, on the clock! OK, it could've been a disaster, but, thankfully, everything went fine.
I'm glad that no one has said that I should have sat there and not told anyone I was a nurse!
No, I believe you did the right thing.
I would have rather went and helped him. You know the basic ABC's, whether you work in NICU, a nursing home, or the floor. Had he coded and you NOT responded, how you that have felt instead, KWIM?
Yes, Airlines carry a pretty substantial med box, each has a medical director, similiar to EMS director. Since you are in the air over god knows where, you are covered by the airline's MD and samaritan laws as long as you use "sound judgement and current standard of care". There was recently an incident, I think SW airlines where a nutball tried to break in the cockpit door. Three for four people tried to subdue him and finally a nurse asked for and got valium and injected the man, resulting in him finally being able to be restrained. Perfectly legal in that situation. I am proud that nurses and medics act and not hide when called!
So, keep it up,,,we just might save each other's loved ones!!!
Specializes in Impaired Nurse Advocate, CRNA, ER,.
Actually, I believe that the good sam law only applies to lay people.
Found this on Medi-Smart Nursing Legal issues.
"Most states have enacted some form of Good Samaritan or Volunteer Protection law prohibiting a victim from suing a physician or other health care professional for injuries from a Good Samaritan act. To trigger the protection of such an act, several conditions must be satisfied: it must be a volunteer act, the person receiving the help must not object to being helped, and the actions of the rescuer must be a good-faith effort to help."
This seems like an incredibly poor system - to rely on chance and the goodwill of random strangers. Shouldn't all flight attendants be trained in basic first aid and CPR?
This seems like an incredibly poor system - to rely on chance and the goodwill of random strangers. Shouldn't all flight attendants be trained in basic first aid and CPR?
I believe they are - the flight attendant I talked to knew how to use the AED and everything. But this man I encountered wasn't coding. He was conscious with a good heart rate. There was nothing she could do for him at that point. She just wanted a doctor or nurse to assess him in the meantime.
As a nursing student I worry a little if something happened when I was the only knowledgeable person there about nursing, what would I do? Therefore, I always try to read about these instances when one is on vacation and gets bitten by a shark and etc. One time I had received a certificate for First Aid and CPR and the next month I thought I seen a 1 year old boy choking at a restaurant and I couldn't keep my eye off of him, luckily he was just coughing, my adrenaline was pumping though and I would have been ready to go over and help him all that I knew how to. I think it is really great when there is enough nurses and or doctors to be around when something goes wrong, how heroic.
One time at a National Cheerleading Competition at Disney's MilkHouse a teenage CO-Ed cheerleader had just finished their routine and was sitting behind us in the stands when suddenly he doubled over with severe abd pain and severe sob. It took about 3-4 other BIG boys to carry him out to an anteroom . He was moaning and couldn't breath, he had a history of asthma but no rescue inhaler with him, tachycardic, sweating profusly
there was my and another dad that was a dermatologist. Could you believe that there was no oxygen, no AED , no kind of emergency anything and this was a NAtional event with thousands of kids participating from kindergarten up through highschool. We then had to call and wait for an ambulace that tookl forever to get through the crowded hallways. All we could do was wait and be ready to assist him with cpr if he quit breathing. I am appauld
by the fact that no potential emergency preparations are made anymore for our children at sporting events let alone at Disney. I remember when I was in high school that an ambulance had to be present at football games but not so today.
ER nurse for 20 years, EMT before that. From your description it sounds like you handled it perfectly! The only way I can make any suggestions is if I personally saw the patient myself. You saw him, I didn't, so great job!
I was so relieved, because starting CPR in an airplane was something I did not want to do!! 
RNMedic1977
20 Posts
"Has anyone else ever been on an airplane when this panicked announcement has been made overhead? "
Yes....TWICE in one year!! By the way, while in the air you are covered under the Airline's Physician.