Picture this: You are a nurse on an emergency transport helicopter en route to pick up a critical patient who is intubated at an outlying facility. Upon arrival, you learn the patient has adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), complicated by septic shock. The patient’s blood pressure is in the low 70s, and he is on two vasopressors. He has been sedated, but not enough. He is visibly agitated and physically shaking. There are nine infusion pumps on three IV poles, in addition to other equipment in the room. All in all, his condition requires 12 intravenous (IV) infusions, and it’s your job to keep him stable until the helicopter reaches the hospital.
Providing care in a helicopter presents challenges that are different from providing care in a hospital. After nearly 5 years as a flight nurse, I’ve found that in order to meet the patient safety needs for in-flight care and to ensure patient safety, medical equipment used for air transport needs to be:
* Consistently reliable in the face of limited resources;
* Designed for a small, in-motion workspace; and
* Versatile enough to provide extended care during travel delays.
Patient Safety Is Paramount
Every flight nurse quickly learns that patient safety is paramount. At Florida Hospital, our Florida Flight One medical helicopter provides an emergency room/critical care setting staffed by highly trained and qualified teams. But unlike a hospital emergency room, if something goes wrong, there is only one back-up for each medical device and no code button a nurse can hit to have hospital staff come running to help. Besides the patient, there are just three people onboard: a nurse, a pilot, and a respiratory therapist or critical care paramedic. The first safety measure for any flight occurs even before a patient is picked up —i f any of the three crew members do not feel right about the flight due to concerns about adverse weather conditions, the team does not go. If one person becomes concerned mid-flight, the helicopter turns around, and the flight is aborted. It’s an unwritten policy we call, “It takes three to go and one to say no.”
http://www.psqh.com/july-august-2010/570-patient-safety-on-the-fly-.html
No comments:
Post a Comment