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Aug
29
2023
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Posted 247 days ago ago by Admin
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“Teamwork makes the dream work.” Is that true in helicopter air ambulance work?
According to the American Heritage Dictionary the definition of teamwork is “cooperative effort by the members of a group or team to achieve a common goal.”
I recently visited Atrium Health’s MedCenter Air operation in Charlotte, North Carolina. (See story on Page 49.) Working with their teams reminded me of when I used to fly helicopter air ambulance, how complicated the work is, and how success hinges on many moving parts working together as a whole. If only one of the parts fails or falls short, desired outcomes may fall short as well.
I remember when I was a new air ambulance pilot, we were shut down on a highway waiting for two patients involved in a DUI, head-on accident, to be extricated from their vehicles. Given that I was flying an S76C+ helicopter we had the ability to take both patients. The first patient to arrive at the helicopter was in very critical condition and was bleeding out. I was told by the flight nurse that the second patient should be arriving in five minutes to seven minutes. I made the decision that I would keep the helicopter quiet and would start it when I saw the patient being pushed from the scene towards the helicopter.
Once the flight nurse was in the back of the aircraft with Patient #1, he says to me, “Lyn, she’s bleeding out and I need to get two lines (IVs) in her, can you give me a hand.” Considering that I’d spent10 years on the streets with fire rescue, and had patient-treatment experience, I was faced with a dilemma. Do I quickly hop in the back and help my overtasked flight nurse, or do I focus on the bigger picture and prepare for the second patient to arrive?
Based on the five minutes to seven minutes ETA of Patient #2, I decided to help the flight nurse. Two minutes later, while sitting in the back of the helicopter with an IV tube and a bag of Ringer’s (IV fluid) in my hands, Patient #2 arrives. Imagine everyone’s surprise, mine included, that the pilot is in the back treating the patient and not in the cockpit getting the engines started.
Some might say I was a team player for helping my teammate and colleague at a critical time. Others would say that in the context of the larger goal (getting critical patients to a trauma center as fast as possible), that I let the larger team down by delaying departure by a minute or two. I agree with the latter. In air ambulance, everyone from dispatchers to mechanics to med. crew to pilots, all have an individual job to perform.
So to answer the original question: Yes, teamwork makes the dream work. However, the system and the patients we serve, rely on every person on the team to stay in their lanes and remain hyper-focused on their area of expertise to have ultimate success.
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