When you’re in the healthcare industry, you’re going to come across hundreds of different cases in your lifetime. This is especially true for medical flight crews who have to deal with emergency cases and patients who have undergone a traumatic experience. At some point of time, you may even come across patients with behavioral emergencies or violent tendencies. It is in such situations that you need to be extra cautious and employ your non-medical skills as well when dealing with such patients.
Dealing with Violent Patients for Medical Flight Crews
When you’re in the medical flight industry, your only focus cannot be on the patients’ safety. You have to think about your safety as well. This might prove to be a challenge when dealing with violent patients or patients displaying behavioral emergencies and hallucinations. Here are a few tips that will make your task easier:
- Make sure the air ambulance aircraft is equipped with soft arm restraints. These restraints will keep the patients in place without harming them. So you can prevent them from pulling out their IV or oxygen or even from taking a swing at you.
- Try to determine the medical reason for the behavior instead of immediately concluding that the patient has a mental illness. For instance, some patients may have had a head injury resulting in them being angry, violent, combative, or anxious. Try to conduct a thorough assessment in order to get to the root of the problem and take necessary action on time.
Try to remain calm despite the situation as your angst can further aggravate the patient. You can try to create a more relaxing environment for the patient by removing any stimuli of negative emotions. For instance, bright lights and loud noises could prove to be a negative trigger for such patients.
