As I am having my cup of coffee contemplating this thread, I have decided to run a clinical trial to bring some science into this discussion rather than the current opprobrium.
Title:
Perceptions of Health professionals to in-flight Airline evenTs (PHAT) trial
Design:
observational, prospective, single centre, unblinded, convenience sample survey. Researchers will interrupt life saving surgery to administer a verbal questionnaire on health professionals' attitudes
Primary Outcome:
Proportion of health professionals who would and would not render assistance to an inflight medical event
Secondary Outcomes:
1. subgroup analysis of proportions based on care giver type; hypothesis being that nurses (most caring), anaesthetists (somewhat caring), and surgeons (least caring) would differ in their willingness to render assistance
2. proportions of health professionals understanding of legal issues surrounding in flight events
Statistical Analysis:
simple descriptive statistics. Dichotomising groups to medical and nursing, and applying Fishers exact test to determine association with willingness to render assistance. No sample size calculation applies to this observational trial, though the researchers will attempt n=30 because every other small, underpowered trial wants to pass off as normalised data
Limitations:
Gynaecologists, despite known reservations, will be included in the surgical subgroup. There are only 2 on the floor today, as the rest have flown F to Las Vegas for a conference
Stage 1. Creation of the questionnaire. Updates to follow.