Doctors On Flight
It’s a scene that’s been played out in countless movies and TV shows; a passenger has a medical emergency on a flight, and one of the flight attendants calls out “is there a doctor on board?” The truth is, flight attendants are trained as first responders and have pretty extensive first aid training.
All planes are equipped with multiple first aid kits, and planes carrying over 30 passengers have defibrillators. Still, the crew isn’t medical professionals, and if one of the passengers is a doctor, they may call on him or her for help. In serious situations, pilots can decide to land the plane at a nearby airport at their discretion – a procedure which, during domestic flights, doesn’t take more than 15 minutes.