RE: Flight Physiology

["Gregory J. Rupert" <gregoryrupert@sprynet.com>]

Hello Allen:

 

All of the previous responses to your question are excellent points. There are so many concerns depending on pt. diagnosis, critical phases of flight (ETT Cuff on accent and decent) etc. it could fill numerous emails and does fill many chapters in books. What I firmly believe in working fixed wing related to working with pt's is two simple things. First listen to that little voice. As I'm sure you have developed working helo trauma response. Besides the numbers you just know when your patient is heading south. In the same way fixed wing flyers develop the same intuative skils for evaluating their patients. Additionally and the most important, in a fixed wing you are up sometimes for verylong times. Knowing how alttitude is going to effect your patient and performing interventions and properly preparing the patient for flight is half the battle. The trick of being a good fixed wing nurse or medic is effectivly appling your superior knowledge on the ground so you don't have to apply your superior skills inflight.

 

Chop

-----Original Message-----
From: flightmed-admin@flightweb.com [mailto:flightmed-admin@flightweb.com]On Behalf Of Wildmedic17@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 8:30 AM
To: flightmed@flightweb.com
Subject: Flight Physiology

     Hi all - I've got a question for those of you who are very experienced in the realm of fixed wing transport: Exactly how do you apply the principles of flight physiology to your patient assessment and management?
      
       I'm quite familiar with basic flight physiology; the gas laws, the stressors of flight, etc....but what I mean is, how do you use that info?
      
       My experience is almost exclusively with low-altitude helicopter transport - where the effects of changing altitude aren't much of a factor - so I'm just curious to learn what little tricks and assessment techniques you airplane types routinely use during patient preparation and transport. Thanks!

-Allan