What would you do?

[DwayneEMTP]

If you're speaking theoretically only, and you happen to have an imaginary cric kit in your pocket? Yeah, even if you'd had nothing to drink there is a chance that someone will swear that they saw you drinking, and even the presence of alcohol while you're in a social environment might be enough to get you jammed up.

No cric. Not only do you not have an obligation to such a proceedure while off duty, you have no right. And even if you have both of those things, wouldn't your McGills come into use long before your scalpel? Though of course, that's not nearly as sexy of an alternative for your coworkers...grin.

I hate the choking threat that marshmallows seem to present. While in line at the store on day a woman had given her 4 or so year old boy a bag to eat. He stuffed one after another in his mouth...he was about to give me a nearvous breakdown. I said, "Ma'am, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm a paramedic and all I can really think of is how I'm going to dig those out of your son's airway when he chokes on them..." At about that point his face turned purple, his eyes started to bulge, he was obviously beginning to panic..I dropped my things on the floor, kneeled down to see if he was moving any air at all...he started to glaze over a bit and then suddenly I saw the huge wad of mush being swallowed...He gasped , holding onto me, hyperventilating...his mother said, "See, he's fine..." Grrrrr....

Out of your area, it makes no difference what permissions your medical director might give you. Inside of your area off duty, it again makes no difference what permissions he gives you. Having been drinking, you're just screwed...No matter how much, or how competent you remained...

And for the record, at parties where really stupid stuff is happening...I do tend to think that that's the perfect time to drink my ass off... :-)

[ERDoc]

It's funny how often some forget that they are functioning under their medical director's license (at least here in the US). The best idea for the OP would be to contact their medical director and run the scenario by him/her. I would bet that he/she would be none too happy about it and make sure your friends/coworkers are aware of it. The best advice I can give is if something like this happens, down a large amount of alcohol so that you can say you are not safe to provide care (though check with your medical director on this one too before you do it). I know if I were the medical director and I heard about someone with a sharp instrument in hand while intoxicated, I would do whatever I could to pull their card. There have been a few threads on SDN about providing care on flights and many of the physicians say that they purposely drink some alcohol as soon as they can so that they cannot render care.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Yeah Dwayne, I ran a code as an EMT where a woman choked on a couple of marshmallows at the nursing home. The medic I was working with was pretty smart, He intubated through the marshmallows with a big tube and then passed a smaller tube through the big tube thus allowing her to be ventillated. He said he learned that from a medic on a previous S'mores code.

Patient survived to the hospital but she didn't survive to walk out. But she was oxygenating pretty well on our arrival, just down too long.

Adaptation you know.

[DwayneEMTP]

When I helped the lady on my last international flight I'd just been delivered a tripple tequila...

I played the, "She's already asleep, who would know??" game for a few mins..grin...But dumped it out. With 14.5 hour left on a 16+ hr flight, I really, really wanted it though...

I suppose drinking early could be a possibility, but I'd say they're blowing smoke...emergencies are so few and far between that it's hard to imagine that they've developed such a habit, plus, who could be proud of having had anough to drink to enjoy the priveledge of watching a bunch of untrained folks work a code, or some other emergency? The flight attendents don't like to call for help, so they're not calling about nothing...

I guess Qantas doesn't divert for anything...the lady I kept sedated for 14 hours, wouldn't even consider diverting. On the flight before mine a man dies of a heart attack an hour out of Dallas...they covered him up and continued to Brisbane. (I guess he lived there, so I guess it makes sense, but they kept him covered up in a galley...that seems wierd somehow)...

[island emt]

If the guy was dead , He's not going to get more dead.

Why divert.

[DwayneEMTP]

On the Long Haul 747 that they use international there is a hallway between the galley and the bulkhead that they people behind sit next too. It's in this place that they put the blanket covered body I'm told..as they have no place I guess to put it. So everyone that went to the toilet had to see it...

My dad's a retired airline pilot, and I'm guessing that things have changed a bit since his days...they used to divert if a patient had significant vomiting because of the effect that that might have on the other passengers...Just seem weird to me to continue flying with a dead body easily visible to passengers...but, as you say, no realy physical reason to divert..

[island emt]

People vomiting could cause mass sympathetic barfing. That would be an inflight emergency.

Dead guy covered with blanket??? Not so much.

maybe a few folks that can't handle reality. They could stuff him in one of the loos and put it out of service.

[paramedicmike]

Interestingly enough there was a recently published study about in-flight emergencies. It seems the rate for in flight emergencies during the study was one in about every 604 flights.

It's an interesting read if anyone is interested.

[Just Plain Ruff]

11000 passengers getting sick out of 2.5 billion flown, that's a pretty good ratio.

But if you look at the number above 1 in 604 flights suffered a medical emergency then that's about 3-5 medical emergencies per day on flights. And they only counted 5 airlines I believe. The numbers have to be higher due to there being hundreds of airlines out there.

I know that I have helped out on at least 3 in flight emergencies and one on the ground In plane emergency. But I used to fly every week.

What surprised me was that doctors account for 45% of all assisting personnel on the flights. That's cool.

[Neup]

What the hell is going on here? We have a member who may or may have not been busted for DWI, we have a smart smart member playing a drinking game that may or may result in choking.

Has all common sense left this younger generation?

But back to the thread.

The first thread was speculation and in this thread, the person witnessed a drinking game. Not quite time to pull the pin on society. Now, if you want to talk about common sense and the increasing use of cell phones in an ambulance while patients are on board, well, you've got something there.