Unit 5

• For passengers with asthma:

  • Signs and Symptoms: strained breathing, muscles in the face and neck working to assist breathing, cold sweat, raised pulse, pale
  • Treatment: ask if passenger has own medication, call for a doctor or check First Aid Kit for asthma medication, open air vents, loosen clothing, provide psychological first aid, consider an unscheduled landing if the passenger becomes worse
• Pregnant passengers may face risks due to reduced oxygen levels in the cabin, potentially leading to earlier labor
• Passengers with serious existing medical conditions should inform the airline in advance to ensure relevant assistance is available if required
• Cabin crew must follow company procedures and provide first aid to passengers in case of medical incidents, keeping calm and reassuring other passengers
• For passengers with breathing problems:

  • Reduced pressure and oxygen levels at altitude can make it harder for those with breathing difficulties to adjust
  • Asthma attacks can be triggered by stress, allergies, colds, exercise, fear of flying, and other factors
  • Passengers with asthma usually carry their own medication, but cabin crew should be prepared to assist if needed
• Common conditions that can worsen during flights include heart disease, where cabin crew should provide oxygen, comfort, and seek medical assistance
• In case of a heart attack:

  • Symptoms include chest pain, difficulty in breathing, paleness, and cold sweat
  • Treatment on board: make the person comfortable, give them oxygen, encourage rest, loosen clothing, look for a doctor on board, consider unscheduled landing if condition worsens
• Cabin crew are expected to respond to situations when someone becomes ill or is injured during a flight, ranging from simple problems like an earache to more serious issues like a heart attack
• Basic First Aid Response on Board the Aircraft:

  • Initiate first aid as soon as possible
  • Get help by asking another cabin crew to inform the Captain and page for medical assistance on board
  • Start life-saving first aid by ensuring airway, breathing, and circulation
  • Start ordinary first aid by covering with a blanket, relieving pain, immobilizing fractures, and making the person comfortable
  • Remember the DOs and DON'Ts, like keeping calm, keeping other passengers away, and not giving anything to eat or drink to a person with a stomach problem
• Key Learning Point: Cabin crew are expected to do all they can for an ill or injured passenger, including life-saving responsibilities, following procedures determined by the airline to avoid blame in case of adverse outcomes

  
• Good Samaritan Laws in the USA protect people against claims of negligence when providing emergency care in good faith without expecting anything in return
• Passengers with common conditions like heart disease may not always inform the airline in advance, so cabin crew should be alert to ill passengers on board and try to determine their condition from their symptoms
• Most injuries on board flights are minor and require standard first-aid treatment, but severe cases may require diversion for urgent medical care, especially for head injuries or substantial blood loss
• When providing first aid, it's crucial to assess the situation and the casualty, understand what is happening, and check for any dangers to yourself
• Key steps to remember when providing first aid: Check, Call, Care
• Common in-flight medical emergencies include vasovagal fainting, gastrointestinal issues like vomiting or nausea, cardiac problems, respiratory issues like asthma, and headaches
• For vasovagal fainting, actions include lowering the person to the cabin floor, positioning them on their back with legs raised, loosening tight clothing, checking breathing, and not giving them anything to eat or drink
• Air travel may cause passengers to experience nausea or vomiting due to motion sickness, which can be treated with anti-emetic medication and ice to suck on
• Systems in place to assist cabin crew in medical emergencies include air-to-ground communication with expert physicians available 24/7 for medical advice
• When medical emergencies occur on flights, some airlines have their own physicians while others obtain this service through a specialist provider
• Telemedicine is an evolving area of diagnosis using onboard Wi-Fi, seat-back phones, and video monitoring equipment to provide information on vital signs, images of the patient, and two-way voice communication with trained medical professionals on the ground
• When providing care to someone who is hurt or ill on a flight, cabin crew should identify themselves, get permission to assist the victim, make the passenger comfortable, explain actions step by step, reassure the victim, calm distraught travel companions, keep on-lookers away, not leave the victim unattended, not discuss the situation with other passengers, not diagnose-treat symptoms beyond their training, and complete all required documentation as per airline regulations
• To reduce the risk of disease transmission while giving first aid, cabin crew should avoid direct contact with blood and body fluids, use disposable gloves and breathing shields, and wash their hands with soap and water immediately after giving aid
• Airlines provide specific training for cabin crew on how to protect themselves and handle items exposed to blood or body fluids, including using biohazard kits or precautions kits that contain items like disposable gloves, breathing shields, biohazard bags, sharps containers, and more
• Airlines are required to carry at least one First Aid Kit and use it following an emergency landing or ditching, with the number of kits depending on the aircraft size and the location of the kit varying by aircraft type
• The First Aid Kit on board should contain items like disposable gloves, disposable resuscitation shields, everyday pain relief tablets, seasickness tablets, nasal decongestants, gastrointestinal antacids, anti-diarrheal medication, antiseptics, adhesive dressings, wound dressings, bandages, burns dressings, adhesive tape, safety pins, scissors, and more
• Cabin crew are trained to administer first aid, but some assistance may be required from other survivors, so a First Aid Handbook is necessary to enable others to provide care if needed
• The Emergency Medical Kit (EMK) offers medical equipment that can be administered only by qualified persons, and cabin crew are generally not trained to use its contents, although some airlines may train them on specific medications like Epinephrine injections for severe allergic reactions
• Other items that may be used during a medical emergency on a flight include an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) for monitoring and administering electric shocks to the heart, Biohazard Kits or Precaution Kits for handling medical waste, and Resuscitation Masks for rescue breathing
• Medical conditions that can be made worse while flying include heart disease

  
• Inflight medical emergencies can be injury-related or health-related situations
• Cabin crew must follow company procedures and use common sense when giving first aid to passengers
• Cabin crew should never discuss injury or illness with other passengers and should only provide medications provided by the company, unless it is the personal medication of the passenger
• For a heart attack on board an aircraft:

  • Symptoms: chest pain, difficulty in breathing, paleness, cold sweat
  • Treatment: make the person comfortable, give them oxygen, encourage rest, loosen clothing, look for a doctor on board, stay with the passenger to check vital signs and offer psychological aid
• Passengers with breathing difficulties may struggle due to reduced pressure and oxygen levels at altitude
• Asthma attacks can be triggered by stress, allergies, colds, exercise, fear of flying, dust, or perfume scents
• Passengers with asthma usually carry their own medication, which is a pump spray they inhale to relax the bronchial tubes in the lungs
• In case of injuries, cabin crew should ensure all injuries are found, pay special attention to serious bleeding, wounds, burns, and fractures
• Cabin crew should establish the expected time of arrival at the destination airport and transfer time to the nearest appropriate medical facility at the destination
• If a patient's condition is serious enough to warrant landing before the scheduled destination, cabin crew should find out where the aircraft can land, what medical facilities would be available, and the total time it would take to land and transfer the patient to appropriate medical facilities