EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Technical Assistance flying with infusion pump

hay everyone

can anyone tell me please if you can fly with an infusion pump?
what do you do if you need to get drug infusion during flight?

thank you

Check with the airline well before your flight!!

hay! thank you for your answer, i was wondering about the pump itself and it's function during flight

Volumetric infusion pump, or syringe driver? Or ambulatory syringe driver?

Any modern infusion pump should be able to handle ambient pressure variations (within reason) I would have thought. Although I would suggest an element of "clinical observation" during such a flight anyway.

A syringe driver would be relatively immune from atmospheric influences, I should imagine.

Perhaps you're not at liberty to mention the clinical circumstances, but that is the area with which I would be most concerned vis-à-vis safety issues. Things like:- is the patient a stretcher case, or travelling in a normal seat? Awake and alert ... or not? Accompanied by nursing or medical staff (I hope) ... or not? Stuff like that.

Also ... what about power (for the pump)? Is battery capacity sufficient for the journey planned ... etc.?

hay, it's a TPN user that constantly require feeding and it's a volumetric infusion pump. i want to know how the pump keeps the flow rate in the changing pressure during the flight

I doubt that you would notice any deviations from normal performance, myself. But I suppose that the easy answer here is to seek advice from the manufacturer or supplier. Or (and) even the carrier (airline), as Neil suggests. What are the in-flight pressure variations, in actual fact? After all, this must have happened many times before.

As to the "how" ... which pump, what type of mechanism? Peristaltic? Should work just fine, I would have thought. Why not?

If you think about it, you should be able to simulate in-flight conditions by raising and lowering (and squeezing) the nutrient bag.

Hi dikla,

Isn't there a team at your hospital concerned with patient transfers? Many Intensive Care Units do this by road and by air. They should be able to tell you what they normally use, and what the normal procedures are.

Moira

My guess is that Dikla is not hospital based, Moira.

Why do I say this? Because of the way the questions are being phrased. First it was about "drug infusion" ... then it becomes TPN. I think that Dikla is interested in the technical aspects of the pump operating under the (variable) ambient pressure conditions prevailing during air travel.

An academic? Well, maybe the guy is building (designing) a new pump!

Just my guess. Am I near the mark, Dikla?

you are close but not exactly

Dikla, I'm in the RAF and we fly with both syringe drivers and volumetric pumps, when flying critical ill patients back to the UK fron around the world. We haven't had any problems with the delivery of fluids, blood products or drugs. We even fly some patients with PCA's attached without problems. However, the normal cabin altitude of our aircraft is around 6,000 FT. I believe that civilian aircraft fly at a higher cabin altitude.

Hope this helps.