ER or ICU to Flight Nurse?

[8jimi8ICURN]

Hello,

I live in Austin, Texas. I'm a 3rd semester ADN student with about 7 months to go until my RN. I'm also about 2 months out from completing an EMT-B program. Originally when I was choosing my path I was interested in becoming a paramedic. Someone convinced me that I should go for my RN instead. At this point in my education, i have been fascinated with ER work because I felt that it was the closest to what paramedics would be dealing with. From everyone that I have networked with, or just had a chance to ask questions about flight nursing, it seems that most people say that an ICU nurse has a better transition into Flight/Transport nursing than an ER nurse.

WHAT SAY YOU! ?? :)

I talked to a flight nurse this week and she told me that in our area we have CC ambulances that roll out with an RN and a EMT-P. Should i can my ideations of ER nursing and go straight for ICU?

In my area it seems that ER's seldom hire GN's, but ICUs will. Opinions welcome! thanks in advance!

jimi

[ARKYLE]

I would think a combination of ED/ICU would be ideal. Maybe 2 years in each setting. Advance practice would just be an added perc. Truly experience always speaks for itself.

[cpillow]

Hi there! Whatever you decide, try to get in there at Breckenridge Hospital where you will see PLENTY of trauma and a great mix of CCU/ICU/SICU patients! If you sit yourself in one of the community hospitals you won't get the experience you need, IMHO....

[GilaRRT]

Not the case at all, worked in a small US/Mexico border town ER off a major interstate. The amount of trauma we saw was staggering. It was not uncommon to do a couple of RSI's per shift. The experience was second to none because of limited staffing and relatively high volume. For example, at night, we had one RN, one LPN, and our physician. The physicians ranged from internists to pediatricians. Some of the docs relied on us heavily for assistance.

There was no competition with residents or students. We often did not have specialty staff such as RT, and had to manage intubated patients with multiple drips and critical problems until the flight team would extract the said patient. In addition, the docs allowed us to have a significant amount of autonomy within facility policy and BON SOP of course.

After only a year, I had been directly involved with countless codes, RSI's, and saw stuff that I did not even see in Afghanistan. I remember having a patient present in a complete heart block and being the only other person assisting the doctor with the placement of a temporary transvenous pacemaker. We had mass casualty incidents from 20+ vehicle pileups on the highway with our spring dust storms to a HAZMAT incident where multiple contaminated factory workers were staged in our makeshift parking lot decontamination stations. I learned how to transduce my first invasive line from an old battle axe nurse when one of our docs placed a central line in the femoral artery. Some people would have lost the plot, she simply stated, "now we have an art line, may as well transduce it."

The experience I gained along with developing the ability to improv my way through difficult situations served me well. ER nurses who excel in a rural high volume setting with limited resources are a special breed. However, you still need a solid critical care skill set to excel in most flight environments.

[8jimi8ICURN]

I can see your point GIla, but in Austin, UMC at Brackenridge is the only trauma center in our area. Otherwise its chopper over to san antonio where they have a level 1 trauma as well as Brooks Army Medical Center (which has a monster burn unit).

[GilaRRT]

I can see your point GIla, but in Austin, UMC at Brackenridge is the only trauma center in our area. Otherwise its chopper over to san antonio where they have a level 1 trauma as well as Brooks Army Medical Center (which has a monster burn unit).

Oh yeah, I spent a little time at BAMC when I was in the military back in the 90's. I remember some big Korean fire or accident occurred, and several of the burn patients were flown into BAMC just for the burn services.