You are the on call Flight Nurse/Paramedic for your flight team and you have nearly completed a 12 hour day shift in your unit/service when an urgent request comes in to retrieve a criticlly ill patient. The Flight Nurse/Paramedic who was going to replace you has called in sick and the nurse/paramedic replacing her is not flight qualified. The flight is to Invercargill and you are based in Auckland, the total mission time will be approximately 12 hours.
a. Considering the physiology of sleep, fatigue, and circadian cycles what are the fundamental issues with the above situation
b. How might fatigue affect your performance?
c. What fatigue management tools can you use to minimise the effects on your performance?
d. Describe how a Fatigue Risk Management System would work in an aeromedical operation.