Do you have access to an on-call physician? Would a provider at some level less then 'physician' (e.g. nurse practitioner or paramedic) be able to use the kit if they're in contact with a physician?
It would be extremely frustrating to watch someone die (or at least get sicker), knowing there was equipment on board that could help them...
Law and regulations vary, but essentially you can "practice" under the license of a physician (and in fact, throughout the US, that's how EMTs and Paramedics operate, through an agency or county Medical Protocol Director).
Everything in that bag is likely able to be used autonomously by a paramedic - it deals with acute care, not chronic, which unsurprisingly is what paramedics are used to dealing with:
* childbirth
* airway management / ventilation, up to emergency cricothyroidotomy
* ET / NG intubation, including RSI (rapid sequence induction, essentially sedation, anesthetization in preparation)
* bleeding control / fluid resuscitation
* pain management
* seizure / neurological
* cardiac events, drug administration, manual and automated defibrillation, pacing
* diabetic
* overdose / poisoning
* less common on an aircraft, but trauma, including burns
* medication administration via IV/IM/IO routes
Most paramedics work almost entirely autonomously via protocols and training, and do not require direct physician approval for drug administration (as opposed to nurses). This range of drugs is quite extensive (my county allows approximately 40, including adenosine, amiodarone, atropine, dopamine, etomidate, fentanyl, morphine, midazolam, lidocaine, furosemide, promethazine, succinylcholine, vasopressin).
Yeah, I was looking to clarify if there was some sort of medical control available.
I know for a fact that some airlines do have an on-call physician (the medical director for my paramedic program was one years ago, in addition to providing state-wide medical control for all flight based EMS services), I was just curious if the OP's airline did.
We have medical service, and they are called in an emergency if necessary(is not like they are in standby just for a plane to call them), but usually we first ask for a doctor onboard. It seems that AA first call their doctor as a procedure, it has surprised me, but it´s pretty logical if you ask me.
We don't have inmediate access to a physician via frequency(lime AA seems to have which is great), but surely the ground team would find the airport team if necessary.
Mind you that even if you have access to the medical kit, you are not going to use it properly, I have some general knowledge but I can not distinguish an heart atack from a simple pass out. You could easily complicate a simple issue.
I carry on my Iphone the special operations forces medical handbook. It has some gidelines on asisting a birth, and much more(from dressing a hunt piece to basic dentist instructions) but I don't think I Could dare to prescribe a drug based on things read on the fly.
I'm trained as a paramedic. I routinely make those sorts of assessments (much more frequently than most physicians, in fact). It's unlikely you carry anything in your medkit that I don't carry in my ambulance.
My question is mostly if the 'physcian' requirement could be circumvented if someone with medical training (other than a physician) were in contact with a physician on the ground. If, for example, I were to explain to a remote physician that there's someone on board who is experiencing A, B, and C, and I would like to do X, Y, and Z. If the doc concurs with the decision, would that be enough, or is there some set in stone policy that couldn't possibly be overridden?
Let me check the rules, but I certainly would give you access to the emergency kit, and control over the issue. Your experence and formation is much more related to an onboard sudden problem, than for example a dentist or any other physician who has forgoten basic ER knowledge.
I just checked and you are completely right, is any one with a medical training and a professional ID as an accreditation. It is just we call for a doctor as a generalization, but is wrong and we should be more precise.
It would be extremely frustrating to watch someone die (or at least get sicker), knowing there was equipment on board that could help them...