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Old 29th November 2009, 09:26 PM
Mick F Mick F is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: NSW
Posts: 852
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No worries Russell, glad I could help.

Expanding further on from what I said before, the clinic services you are thinking of are part of the RFDS' range of services they provide. At the "traditional" bases (eg, Broken Hill, Charleville, Mount Isa, Port Augusta, plus many others), the RFDS provides 2 main types of services. Those being the on call, 24hr/365 days a year primary response emergency aircraft, and clinic services. These consist of, as you said, the doctor and the nurse going out to remote locations and doing your normal 'doctor day', just like when you go up to the doctor.

However, all disciplines are kept seperate (Aviation, Nursing, Medical). The pilots don't play doctor or nurse, the nurses and doctors don't play pilot. Plus, if you saw the amount of work some of the doctors do, the last thing you'd want would be for them to then jump in an aircraft and fly!

Having said that above though, there are times where the disciplines do slightly crossover, however it's more when you're all working as a team to do something that needs everyone's involvement. The RFDS pilots don't normally just fly the aircraft. They can be in charge of logistics at the scene of an accident, keeping an eye on everyone's safety, assisting the doctor and nurse with the loading and transport of patients, the list goes on. The pilots aren't obliged to assist (except with things like loading, we are responsible for that), however particuarly those that have been doing it for a few years, they get in and lend a hand where possible, without overstepping that mark whereby you're treading the toes of the doctor or nurse.

Cheers

Mick
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