Welcome to a new feature on TOKC! In preparation for each Journal Club during Wednesday Conference, we will post the article in advance on TOKC so residents and faculty may read and post comments and discussion points before we meet in conference.
The article for this edition will be “Outcomes of Medical Emergencies on Commercial Airline Flights” published this month in NEJM. The article is password protected as usual. Please post your comments or questions regarding the article below.
Journal Club is scheduled for Wednesday, June 12th at 8am and will be presented by Dr. Jegede.
Reference:
Peterson,DC, Martin-Gill C, Guyette FX, Tobias AZ, MCarthy CE, Harrington ST, Delbridge TR, Yealy DM, Outcomes of Medical Emergencies on Commerical Airline Flights, New England Journal of Medicine, May 2013.
The views expressed on this blog are the author's own and do not reflect the views of their employer. Please read our full disclaimer here. Any references to clinical cases refer to patients treated at a virtual hospital, Janus General Hospital.
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Jay Khadpe MD
Editor in Chief of "The Original Kings of County"
Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
Assistant Residency Director
SUNY Downstate / Kings County Hospital
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Great informational and fun article, if anyone has been in this type of situation before please post on the blog your experience.
It is useful to know that there is actually a medication box available on some aircrafts and a system in place for certain airlines.
My personal experience was when I was on a trans-pacific flight from Asia, Mid 50s year old male with complaints of chest pain seemed intermittent in nature who had a questionable cardiac history. Pt was taking what looked like a chinese version of herbal extract which may have contained nitro. Although I wasn’t 100 percent sure. Also complicated by a language barrier. All I could check was RR and palpable pulse.
On this flight there was only supplemental O2 but they did not have any medication or an AED available. There wasn’t much I could do in this case other than suggest hospitalization after the flight landed. Eventually symptoms resolved.
thanks for your comment. I’ve never encountered a case on a flight before. it’s amazing how little is in the emergency medical kit. but apparently you don’t need that much.
I “responded” to a call to see a child with a fever. I instructed them to give him acetaminophen. The flight attendants were suspicious of my claim to be an MD (I think I was wearing a Transformers t-shirt) and verified A LOT of information from me.
I think as EM docs we should get more training on in flight/remote location disasters. When I say more training, I mean a day course (similar to ACLS). I’m sure there is not much you can do, but being knowledgeable about what is in the kit could be helpful. I found it interesting that the staff was actually trained. I wonder if that training included BLS.