Convene First Responders could not be more excited to announce the addition of its newest member – Dan Turner.
Dan was a Flight Nurse for over 13 years until he was involved in a bad accident riding his motorcycle. This motorcycle accident and resulting traumatic brain injury left Dan with left-sided weakness and loss of fine motor skills in his left hand. As a result, he cannot type with both hands on a computer keyboard and his speech is slurred. “All of my writing is done on my iPhone using a Microsoft Word app.” Dan has been busy adding content to his group, Flight Medicine with Dan Turner, using Convene First Responders on his iphone – all done one thumb tap at a time with his right hand. We are just thrilled to have someone with his level of expertise helping to grow the First Responder community.
Tell us about yourself.
My name is Dan Turner. I’m 46 years old, and due to a motorcycle accident and traumatic brain injury I am a retired flight nurse. I proudly flew 13 1/2 years for the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s IFR program, AirCare. My specialty certifications included Certified Flight Registered Nurse (CFRN) and the Pediatric Neonatal Critical Care Transport (PNCCT) certification from Baltimore, Maryland. I always spent every day trying to be the best part of someone’s worst day.
Tell us about your accident.
I have a traumatic brain injury that I sustained on December 8, 2012. A friend of mine and I were riding our Harleys on the Natchez Trace when a deer ran out in front of me. After 3 weeks of being unconscious and on a ventilator in the ICU, I woke up and was found to have left-sided weakness with total loss of fine motor skills in my left hand. I also had difficulty walking, requiring the use of a wheelchair. My career as a flight nurse was the greatest blessing and opportunity in my life. I went from treating patients to being a patient in a matter of seconds.
Tell us about your training and experience, and why you still train others.
I graduated an associate degree nursing program in 1996. I was working on my Masters in nursing and had one year of clinicals remaining when I had my accident. I was in an accelerated ADN to Masters Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. One part about my flight career that I truly loved was teaching and training others (i.e. first responders, firefighters, ER nurses, and EMS). It was very satisfying to help foster relationships in our surrounding communities and improve the continuity of care.
Why is sharing lesson learned such an important Concept for First Responders?
Sharing lessons learned is probably the most important concept for first responders because there’s absolutely no reason for a mistake or teachable moment to be hidden out of embarrassment. Our lessons learned should be shared, ultimately, to improve outcomes for the ill or injured that we serve.
How do you see First Responders using Convene?
I foresee the “over-achieving” first responders using Convene in their downtime (i.e. in between calls after the paperwork is caught up). I also see that Convene First Responders will be used for members to receive ‘continuing education’ credit through a system that will allow for a shared learning process.
Tell how you want to use Convene to share your experiences with others.
My TBI left me with slurred speech, which makes it nearly impossible to do public speaking. Convene provides me an additional outlet to type my past experiences, rather than trying to say them.
How do you want others to interact within your group.
As far as the interactions in my group, I really like receiving feedback from the readers. This allows me to improve the way in which I express my thoughts. Feedback is welcome in my group.
What is your favorite feature or that you look forward to once others are engaging within convene.
As with my teaching and training others in the past, I love seeing the light bulbs in peoples’ heads turning on. In person, it’s truly satisfying to witness it. Online, that satisfaction will come from positive feedback in regards to what was learned. I hope to be able to engage with others and learn through their experiences.
Lastly, you are also an author. Tell us where people can buy your book
They can buy it from Amazon. FLIGHT MEDICINE: The Pursuit of Excellence
Join Dan on Convene First Responders
He will be a huge part of the team and growth through this exciting platform. Dan is a person who unfortunately is not able to fly any longer, but is a passionate person that wants to make a difference.
Flight Medicine with Dan Turner
A place where air medical teams and aspiring flight nurses and medics can share knowledge to keep us performing at our best. Join his group Flight Medicine with Dan Turner where you will find all the experiences and classes below:
Dan is offering the following 2 experiences for free to give you an idea of what the 20 CE hours content is like:
Drug Calculations Made Easy
A tried and true method of performing drug calculations. Many times, in the critical care transport world, we must perform multiple drug calculations in order to care for our critically ill or injured patients. This method will help to make you more efficient and accurate when performing this task. Go to experience
Simple Assist-Control Ventilation
This experience covers basic AC Mode Ventilation. Your team has been launched for a 10 y/o, 45 kg, in respiratory failure. You opt to bring your transport ventilator inside the referring facility and start ventilatory support prior to loading back into your aircraft. Go to experience
Dan is offering a Critical Care CE Volume 1 course and will be adding more soon.
Join his group and you will find his course(s) in the subgroups.
Critical Care CE Volume 1 – Only $20 for 20 CE hours.