Air Ambulance

Don't dwell on those. If they code in the air and pass, they would have done the same on the ground. Focus on the wins -- the ones who are an absolute mess, blood everywhere, nobody expects them to live -- who you get to HLOC in time and they live. Those are the good days.
 
brian434 said:
It's been fun. I've already had a couple calls and passed my check ride earlier in the week. Not going to be much fun when the first patient dies on board. Especially not going to be fun when we have a kid in the back. Going to be some tough stuff later down the road.
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best advice I got, was treat each flight like it is a "real" emergency and your flying won't change a bit. You get in trouble when you start to make exceptions to your minimums.
 
scooter2525 said:
best advice I got, was treat each flight like it is a "real" emergency and your flying won't change a bit. You get in trouble when you start to make exceptions to your minimums.
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Very good advice and a danger I realized on my last flight. My first patient flight was a very sick 2 lb baby girl. We were code blue the entire time. I told the nurses the less I know the better. I'd still hurry as much as possible but I don't want to be included in the status changes. I guess I'm a big softy. :(

Rewarding flight after it was all said and done.
 
I don't ask the med crew anything about the patient. For one it's non of my business. And secondly, there's nothing I can do for the patient other than get them to their destination. When the crew gets all chatty and busy in the back I isolate their headsets so I can't hear anything. More often than not it seems like the patients on board are in pretty decent shape and I wonder why in the world their insurance company is covering a med flight. While I do enjoy the flying it is not because I am "helping" someone. I don't fly any differently or make different decisions when flying patients. I'm not going to bust mins just because someone is dying in the back. And I'm not risking my life or those of the crew just to "save" someone who is possibly going to die anyway. Just my .02...
I think I just like the rush of not knowing where I'm going until the phone rings.
 
brian434 said:
Very good advice and a danger I realized on my last flight. My first patient flight was a very sick 2 lb baby girl. We were code blue the entire time. I told the nurses the less I know the better. I'd still hurry as much as possible but I don't want to be included in the status changes. I guess I'm a big softy. :(

Rewarding flight after it was all said and done.
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I feel ya. I haven't done many peeds, but I breaks my heart to think about it. I try not to imagine what it would be like to have my kid in the back. The only things I change are if they want it quick or smooth and if advising atc is "no delay".
 
You get used to the kids. Most of ours are neonates or unconscious, anyway, which helps, although of course there is the occassional 6 year old little girl clutching her teddy bear or something to uh cause dirt to get in your eye.
 
The only info we get ahead of time is weight for planning. When they report anything < 30kg you know.

Operationally, the nature of the injury/illness can change things if we need to keep the cabin low and then higher fuel requirements and w/b factor in.
 
deadstick said:
The only info we get ahead of time is weight for planning. When they report anything < 30kg you know.

Operationally, the nature of the injury/illness can change things if we need to keep the cabin low and then higher fuel requirements and w/b factor in.
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Yup. The low weight is a given, but not knowing anything helps.
 
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