About Marcy Phipps, BSN, RN, CCRN, CFRN

Chief flight nurse at an international air ambulance service.

Far from Home, a Flight Nurse Cares for One of COVID-19’s ‘Peripheral Victims’

‘Deemed stable to fly home.’

Our fixed-wing air ambulance was recently dispatched to Spain to bring 87-year-old John and his wife of 62 years, Rose, home to the US. They’d traveled to Spain for their annual vacation before “COVID-19” or “coronavirus” were household terms, but John had fallen early on in the trip and broken a hip. He’d spent four weeks in a local hospital and had his injured hip surgically repaired, and then was deemed “stable to fly home” by a doctor. And so he’d been transported back to his hotel two days prior to our arrival. The crew deposited him in the bed, bid farewell to his wife, and left.

Spain’s deserted beaches seen from author’s hotel room, March 2020

And now John was dying. He lay on the twin bed in his hotel room. His eyes were closed. His breathing was rapid and shallow. My partner and I stood, stunned into momentary silence. We had come straight to his hotel from the airport, and his condition was far worse than we had anticipated.

We’d left our equipment in the aircraft, as John’s transport was planned for the following morning to allow time for our pilots to rest. John’s respiratory rate was 60 with frequent pauses, his pulse weak, heart rate about 95 and irregular. He wouldn’t open his eyes or respond to us verbally, but he fought us when we tried to move him. He was covered in feces.

No room at […]

2020-04-09T10:25:10-04:00April 9th, 2020|infectious diseases, Nursing, nursing stories|3 Comments
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Not Until Cairo: A Flight Nursing Tale

Worsening signs.

The author’s flight path circled the globe

The cabin of the Learjet is dark, the heart monitor a metronome over the drone of the engines and pulse of the mechanical ventilator. I’ve been watching my patient’s cardiac rhythm, with ominous hackles rising on the back of my neck while my partner naps. Over the course of the journey the man’s inherent tachycardia has slowly shifted into a sinus rhythm that might seem like normalization on a paper medical report, but feels wrong. After all, this patient is dying. He is returning to Egypt to die amongst family after last-ditch cancer treatments in America have failed.

“Not on this flight,” I think to myself. “Not until Cairo.”

The plane banks as it descends into the Newfoundland night. The cabin vibrates with turbulence; St. John’s may be the most easterly North American fuel stop, but its position on the Atlantic all but guarantees unpredictable weather. The lights of the town sparkle below as my partner rouses, pops his ears, and stretches.

“Look at his heart rate,” I say, quietly. “Pressure’s okay, though.”

“Yeah,” he says. There’s an unspoken accordance between us. We’ve flown together enough—been trapped in small planes for countless hours, evaluating and collaborating—that we […]

2018-06-21T10:11:27-04:00June 21st, 2018|Nursing, nursing stories|4 Comments
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Home for Christmas: Flight Nursing and the Symbols of Hope

The Helm of Awe /courtesy of the author

As nurses, we all have patients who stick with us. I’ve thought of Henry many times since we transferred him six months ago from Dublin to an American hospital to undergo groundbreaking treatment or acute lymphocytic leukemia.

His prognosis was poor—a fact he was well aware of. He’d told his father he wanted to “be done.” He’d had enough of hospitals and the medicine that didn’t cure him and only made him feel worse. He was ambulatory and stable from a medical standpoint, but had the drawn and haggard look of the chronically ill. Most disturbing was his reticence. There was none of the enthusiasm I’d expect from a 12-year-old riding across the Atlantic in a Learjet—he couldn’t even be coaxed to lean into the cockpit.

The only time he perked up was when we landed for fuel in Keflavik, Iceland. He sat up and gazed out the window on our approach, looking interested in his surroundings for the first time.  I found out from his dad that he’d missed a school trip to the island due to his cancer, and I started telling him all I knew of Iceland, which wasn’t much. At that time, […]

2017-07-27T11:49:54-04:00December 20th, 2016|Nursing, nursing stories|0 Comments
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Dark Water, Wild Winds: Notes of a Flight Nurse

I must see new things
And investigate them.
I want to taste dark water
And see crackling trees and wild winds.
—Egon Schiele

IMG_2650Repatriation

I’m standing on the tarmac in Manaus, Brazil, where there is indeed a wild wind; it blows debris across the runway yet does nothing to stave off the nearly intolerable heat. Sweat soaks my back and drips down the center of my chest. My limbs are heavy with lethargy. The heat index is 110 but it feels much hotter—even the Learjet fails to provide a haven from the equatorial sun.

We’d come to Brazil to repatriate an Englishman who’d been visiting family and was struck down by sudden and severe seizures. He’d spent weeks in the hospital, sustaining scans and diagnostics to pinpoint the cause, and endured the addition of one antiepileptic medication after another.

While the seizures finally ceased, he was left disquieted and uncomfortable, unsure which symptoms were due to the 7 cm brain mass that had been discovered and which were side effects of the myriad of antidotes. By the time we were dispatched for this mission, he was medically stable and ready to go home to deal with the ominous findings. Biopsies awaited and […]

2016-11-21T13:01:03-05:00July 27th, 2016|career, Nursing, nursing stories, patient experience|0 Comments
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Superlatives: An Alternate List for Nurses Week

During Nurses Week (May 6–12), the hospital where I work gives out endearing little trophies as awards for “nursing superlatives.” Ballots are distributed with predetermined categories, and the categories are usually fun and relatively straightforward. They include:

  • Best at Starting an IV
  • Most Likely to Crack a Raunchy Joke before Noon
  • Most Likely to Cry at Some Point during a Shift
  • Funniest Nurse
  • Most “Germ-a-Phobic” Nurse

Some less straightforward categories.

Illustrating the idea of teamwork in nursing. by Geralt/via Pixabay

The contests and catered meals, fun gifts, and light-hearted spirit of Nurses Week make it one of the nicest work weeks of the year, and we all come out of it feeling appreciated. But, in consideration of nursing superlatives, I’d like to propose some new categories. Although these titles won’t fit on the trophy plates, I think they’re worthy of recognition.

2022-05-05T12:30:39-04:00May 13th, 2016|career, Nursing, nursing perspective|6 Comments
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