Letter from the Editor: Rita Mody (Spring 2009)
Lots to tell you in this edition!
As you can see from Alan's letter, we have certainly been kept busy in our forum! Not least because there is much change behind the scenes with forums.
Alan, Caroline Carter and I travelled to Budapest to attend the International Travel Insurers Conference (ITIC) and I've written about the experience here. The exciting news is that we have been invited to speak this year at Waypoint AirMed and Rescue 2009, this time much nearer to home - in Oxford! Details of the conference are on our events page.
Supplemental oxygen use in flight is required by many of our patients and as flight nurses it is important we are conversant with the varying systems onboard. We have some interesting information from a captain and AvMed doctor from Monarch Airlines on their passenger oxygen systems.
Many of us forget that we spend half of our time on aircraft as a passenger - that is, with no patient! In-flight medical emergencies do happen and MedAire's Dr Paulo Alves gives a fascinating insight into giving assistance to airlines when cardiac arrest occurs on board.
By the time we go to press I hope we will already have seen you at our study day on the Resuscitation Council (UK) Immediate Life Support Course (ILS) and the principles of moving and handling, held on 6 March at RCN headquarters in London.
We encourage you also to become a regular visitor to the IFNA pages on the RCN website (www.rcn.org.uk/inflight), where we welcome your comments and continue to keep you updated with news from the industry.
In the meantime, have a safe flight wherever you may be travelling to.