Medical equipment

Desert Author

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I'd like to talk to somone who is familiar with the medical equipment in hospitals.

The scenario is, a rich Arab owns and travels in his personal 747. Because he is so concerned about his health, he has an operating room in the aircraft.

So what sort of equipment would be in there? Brand names along with the function of the different machines would help.

Thanks, jeff
 

Orianna2000

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I don't know what sort of equipment would be present, but I will say this--I don't care how concerned about my health I am, I am NOT letting anyone do surgery on me while in-flight. Have you been on a commercial airplane? They vibrate, they jiggle, they bounce, they abruptly drop 1,000 feet without warning, and that's not even counting unexpected turbulence! No one is coming near me with a scalpel.
 

taichiquan.panda

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A "flying" OR wouldn't be set up like a fixed/hospital OR. There are far too many variables like staffing (can't operate alone); medications (work differently in higher altitudes); equipment; space available; etc.

The armed forces (ie, military) have airborne hospitals (like MASH units, only smaller). My best advice would be to start your research there--and maybe talk to Air Force nurses, doctors, etc.
 
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GeorgeK

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You MC is not likely to hire licensed board certified personell for such an endeavor. I have had to do surgery solo in an emergency where there was only one nurse and I had to give orders for meds for her to administer as anaesthesia. It's one thing if it's a once in a career life and death emergency, and will result in calling the hospital CEO at 2AM to complain afterwards. It's another thing to be hired to tag along to do such things. The only people he'd be able to hire are Conrad Murray type people who dabble outside their field and for good reason are not employed otherwise. I wouldn't want a general surgeon setting a broken wrist or unblocking a kidney from a kidney stone or doing a burr hole to drain a subdural. Realistically he'd need at a minimum a Neurosurgeon, a Cardiothoracic Surgeon, an Orthopedic Surgeon and a Urologic Surgeon, and an Anaesthesiologist. They wouldn't need nurses if they assisted each other. They'd want to land the plane to do any surgery.

You could fit an MRI and CT scanner in a 747 however I'm pretty sure that running either would interfere with the plane's navigation, so again, you'd have to land to scan. You probably could do conventional X-Rays in flight as well as ultrasound. They could draw blood in flight and run standard chemistry, hematology and blood gasses.

Normally the mega rich who are paranoid about disease plot out their paths so that they have an up to date hospital within a few hours at all times and fly with an internist and a paramedic crew. Some of them also even make arrangements to pay for an intensive care bed at those hospitals and pay for staff to be available on a just in case scenario.