NTSB to Urge Operational Changes for Emergency Medical Helicopters

From the Wall Street Journal:

Federal aviation-accident investigators on Tuesday are expected to call for various equipment and operational changes to improve the safety of one of the most dangerous jobs in America: piloting emergency medical helicopters.

At a public hearing in Washington, the National Transportation Safety Board is poised to urge additional training for pilots of at least some medical choppers, expanded use of dedicated airways to help avoid obstructions in bad weather, and improved flight-data collection and weather forecasting. Safety experts contend that having two pilots would improve safety, compared to the single-pilot operations still used to make some medical transports.

The board also is expected to reiterate calls for widespread use of night-vision goggles. In the past, the safety board has recommended tighter dispatching safeguards and more-rigorous assessments of flight risks before pilots agree to transport patients.

However, even before the NTSB hearing, industry officials and government regulators have already begun to adopt some of these same measures.

The hearing comes nearly seven months after the NTSB highlighted safety problems faced by this segment of the industry, which suffered 13 crashes and 29 fatalities in 20008. By some measures, pilots of emergency medical helicopters had the most lethal jobs in the U.S., racking up fatalities at a faster clip than loggers and other historically risky professions.

Kitzhaber bid for governor seems likely

From KMTR.com:

Speculation is mounting that former Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber will announce this week he’s going to run for an unprecedented third term as Oregon’s top leader. Kitzhaber is keeping mum for now, but friends believe he’s ready to jump in.

One of them – former state Senator Tony Corcoran – says Kitzhaber remains extremely popular with Oregon Democrats who are excited about the prospect of him becoming Oregon’s governor again. Kitzhaber is a former emergency room physician and state legislator.

He made his mark in the governor’soffice as a defender of the environment and an advocate for expanded health care. Under Oregon law, governors are limited to two consecutive terms. So Kitzhaber, who served two terms and then was succeeded by Ted Kulongoski, has the right to run in 2010.

When a Hospital Let Families Call for Rapid-Response Help

From the Wall Street Journal Health Blog:

In hospitals, staffers can call on rapid-response teams if a patient takes a turn for the worse, mobilizing experts such as intensive care physicians and respiratory therapists to the bedside. But increasingly, as I write in my latest Informed Patient column, families have the right to summon the rapid-response teams directly or at least to demand immediate medical attention from a senior physician if they feel a patient is in trouble and their concerns aren’t being met.