Is there a nurse on the plane?

1 Nurses, have you ever had to handle or help out in an In-flight emergency? Please share your story and the details of what took place.

This blog post about doctors on planes was what sparked me to ask for nurses experiences.
There is a NY Times blog post called: Is There a Doctor on the Plane?
One time when my family was on a trans-Atlantic flight, the crew paged for a doctor and my dad (MD) and mom (RN) both responded. A passenger had passed out and regained consciousness, but did not speak enough English to communicate with my dad and answer his questions. It was my mom who thought to check the person's passport to determine what sort of translator they needed

I've shared this before, an acquaintance, soon after she obtained an RN license, was flying across the country. Inflight, a man had cardiac problems and they called for medical personnel. My friend responded. She said all she had to do was to give him oxygen, they stopped at the next airport and he was taken to a hospital. She was quite proud of herself.

One of the nurses I work with just came back from a vacation and a lady on the plane suffered a cardiac arrest. Apparently, the plane had a defib, IV supplies, O2, ACLS meds, etc... I had no idea and neither did she, but she worked the code with another nurse and an EMT. They successfully resuscitated the lady and made an emergency stop to offload her. Pretty crazy story and her cell phone has been ringing off the hook from people calling to thank her. Still waiting on the airline to call and apologize for losing her luggage!!

First time I ever took my GF flying they asked for medical personnel. It was this persons lucky day. 2 nurses, 1 paramedic and a trauma surgeon were on board. I kinda hung out with the doc in the back with the pt and when we determined it wasnt emergent, we landed at our destination and unloaded them with the help of the local FD. Was kind of cool feeling knowing I could help.

Not while on a plane, but while I was walking through an airport once, I witnessed two people fall about 100 feet from each other, and 15 minutes apart. The first was a middle aged woman who had a syncopal episode. She just kind of toppled over while walking off the moving sidewalk and made a dramatic screech. People ran over and encircled her, but no one knew what to do.I made my way through the circle, and by this time the woman was awake, A/O. She was tearful and stated that she had just lost her mother and hadn't eaten all day. I did a quick neuro exam, checked her pulse, made her sit up against the wall, and ran to get her an $8 orange juice.She began to drink, thanked me, then managed to walk over to the food court with her family. As I started on my way across the food court, ANOTHER lady (this one was much older), slipped and fell. SHe didn't speak english so I tried my best to communicate with her. This time, I was concerned for a hip fx. so I found security and had them call EMS. I stayed with her another 30 minutes, supporting her head and holding her hand on the floor of a busy airport until they arrived.

When I was still a pilot for an airline (before becoming a nurse) I had a passenger on a flight become unresponsive. I asked one of the flight attendents to ask for medical personnel on board to assist, and report back to me what was going on. A few minutes later, she called me back and said 2 RN's had responded...one was an ER nurse and the other was a cardiac nurse. The passenger had regained consciousness, but they decided to lay the passenger down in the galley and open up the EMK, start an IV, and get the defib ready just in case. We diverted to a close airport, landed, and the passenger did just fine. That was the only time I landed an airplane with 3 passengers sitting on the floor of the galley, rather than buckled up in their seats. I was really happy to have the RN's aboard.

Am I the only one reading the comments on the doctor article and getting annoyed at all of doctors whining because they didn't get a free ticket or compensation? Yes it would be nice, but should not be expected.

Not to derail the thread but this has me curious; what is the protocol for giving meds like that if there aren't say, any paramedics? How does it work?

In my opinion there should always be a doctor or a nurse on every plane, especially during the long flights,Us-Europe, US-Asia etc.

Quote from Coffee NurseOne time when my family was on a trans-Atlantic flight, the crew paged for a doctor and my dad (MD) and mom (RN) both responded. A passenger had passed out and regained consciousness, but did not speak enough English to communicate with my dad and answer his questions. It was my mom who thought to check the person's passport to determine what sort of translator they needed

Quote from Cat_LPNNot to derail the thread but this has me curious; what is the protocol for giving meds like that if there aren't say, any paramedics? How does it work?

I was on a flight from Newark to Vegas when a man had a syncopal episode. Poor guy was incontinent of stool and looked like he may have vomitted coffee grounds. Not to mention the smell. There were 2 doctors on the plane that took immediate control of the situation and got on the sky phone with the flight tower, I basically just set up the medical supplies that were on the plane for them. We did argue, however - I thought it would be better to land the flight at the nearest airport, get the guy off the plane and sanitize the aircraft. The doctors disagreed with me, stating that the man had stabilized. The tower said they would do what the doctors advised....So the poor guy had to sit in soiled clothing and the rest of the plane had to endure the associated odors. The flight attendants agreed with me - that we should land - that it wouldn't have added too much time to the arrival time in Vegas.