image source, Dr. Rashid Riaz
Dr. Rashid Riaz helped elderly patients before ski vacation in Italy
- author, josh sandiford
- role, BBC News, West Midlands
A doctor used his Apple Watch to help an elderly woman who had an emergency on a plane.
Rashid Riaz, an NHS doctor from Hereford, was traveling on Ryanair from Birmingham to Verona for a ski holiday.
During a trip on January 9, a woman in her 70s experienced shortness of breath, and flight attendants asked if there were medical personnel on board.
Dr Riaz, 43, came forward to help, borrowed a device from a flight attendant and was able to measure the patient’s oxygen levels using native health monitoring software.
He said that when the woman did not initially respond to his questions, he spoke to her in her native Urdu, reassured her husband, and discovered that the woman had a history of heart disease.
The doctor knew that wrist-worn technology could further help with medical interviews, but since he wasn’t wearing his own device, he asked a staff member for one.
“Thanks to the Apple Watch, we were able to see that the patient’s oxygen saturation was low,” the doctor explained.
apple Website It said the readings taken by the Blood Oxygen Level app are not intended for medical use and are designed solely for “general fitness and wellness purposes.”
The iPhone maker is also in a patent dispute with medical technology company Masim over the software, and is expected to launch the Series 9 and Ultra 2 Apple Watches without the blood oxygen feature on store shelves last week. It revealed that.
image source, Dr. Rashid Riaz
Dr. Riaz is an internal medicine specialist at Hereford County Hospital.
After receiving the watch from the staff member, Dr. Riaz asked the staff member for an oxygen tank in the vehicle.
This allowed the man to monitor and maintain the woman’s saturation level until she safely landed in Italy about an hour later.
He said the patient quickly recovered and was handed over to medical staff, who helped him get off the plane on foot.
“I taught myself a lot about how to use this device during this flight,” said Dr. Riaz.
“This is a lesson on how we can improve in-flight travel” [with] such an emergency [via] It is a basic gadget that is easily available now. ”
“Saving lives”
Dr Riaz, who works at Hereford County Hospital, praised Ryanair staff who responded to the emergency.
But he urged all airlines to consider making emergency doctor kits standard equipment.
Ideally, this would include tools to take basic measurements, such as a diabetic monitor, a blood pressure monitor, and an oxygen saturation monitor, the doctor explained.
“These can save someone’s life in an emergency situation,” he added.