Introduction: Air travel is an important mode of modern transport with over 3 billion passengers on commercial flights, including pregnant women. They should be aware of probable risks of air travel, as appropriate care in case of complications due to various factors can be given too late. Purpose: The purpose is to find out how environmental conditions on the plane affect the pregnant women and fetus, what poses a potential danger to them during the flight, in which health conditions such travel may not be advised, to research limits of different airlines, how the aircrafts are equipped with instruments and medicines and how flight crew are trained on medical measures in case of emergencies. Methods: In the theoretical part a descriptive method and qualitative method of systematic overview of the literature was used. The search was conducted through COBIB.si and foreign databases. We also reviewed the expert recommendations of ACOG, RCOG, RCM, NIJZ, NHS. and the official websites of certain airlines. In the empirical part, a focused individual interview was conducted with Philippine Airlines’ stewardess about childbirth during the flight. We translated the interview into Slovene and with qualitative content analysis breaking the data down into codes in categories. Results: The body of the pregnant woman and the fetus copes with the hypobaric environment and hypoxia with the help od compensatory mechanisms. Preventive measures (hydration, movement, comfortable clothing, compression stockings) are needed to reduce the effects of lower humidity on the aircraft. The pregnant woman must observe a safety limit of 1mSv, as higher radiation doses can lead to bad pregnancy outcomes. Further research on the safety of air travel during pregnancy would be needed. Philippine Airlines allows pregnant women to fly until the 35th week of gestation. By law, they have one week-long training on emergency situations during the year each year. In the event of an emergency during the flight, they first inform the pilot, divide the tasks, find medical workers among the passengers, call the medical team on the ground and take the necessary measures according to their instructions. Discussion and conclusion: Several factors determine the safety of pregnant women during the flight, namely environmental factors, factors that differ depending on the airline, risk factors that each pregnant woman has and unpredictable factors. The professional literature is more inclined to make traveling by plane safe for pregnant women. Although expert recommendations exist and mention preventive measures against complications, they do not warn against all the risk factors mentioned in this diploma work. It would make sense to re-evaluate restrictions and redefine which pregnant women should be advised not to fly. It would also make sense to reconsider the need for tools and instruments depending on previous needs. It would be necessary to investigate in more detail the training program of different airlines and to determine the content that each employee must study in order to be able to react properly at critical moments. The division of tasks among the flight crew in the event of complications is absolutely necessary, and should be done by a pre-determined chief flight attendant. In this way, they enable the fastest possible start of providing assistance. Reporting complications to the National Transportation Safety Board would also be of great help in optimizing on-board handling. A different methodology would be more appropriate to investigate the influence of the environment on the aircraft on the pathophysiology of the body of the pregnant woman and the fetus.
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