which experience is best?

Medic/Nurse, BSN, RN · Feb 22, 2008

Welcome!

And lucky you being in Baltimore!

To answer your question - I think ER would be your best choice to start. Then you can get some ICU experience (trauma ICU then CVICU would be ideal!). Some may disagree (and that is okay, too!) but IMHO I think it easier to transition to the ICU from the ED. ICU nurses have a tougher time going to the ED than vice versa! (The devil is in the details!)

There are advantages/disadvantages to any location - I would think that if you can make it in the Adult ED at Hopkins or UMBC RCA you will be fine anywhere. I would not get pedes speciality unless you plan on speciality practice.

An ideal flight nurse - 3 years general ED (Level 1 a plus).

A year+ each of Trauma ICU, CV ICU, High Risk OB, Peds, Education.

As for your flight goal - check with the education folks at Maryland Express Care and see if they can give you some details on their program & staff requirements. In order to eat an elephant, you have to take one bite at a time!

Good Luck.

Practice SAFE!

CraigB-RN, MSN, RN · Feb 26, 2008

Hi!
i'm new to this board. So forgive me if these specific questions have been asked. I tried to find the info i was looking for by searching the different threads but couldn't find all the answers to my questions...
I am a nurse in Baltimore, Maryland. I have ED, OB/GYN, and Med/surg - homehealth experience. I also currently work prn as a Forensic Nurse Examiner. I have been interested in flight nursing since my ED days and want to know which experience i should seek now. My ED experience was quite "task oriented" i thought with not much acuity. But i feel from reading the other posts that some ICU exp would be best at this point to hone some critical care skills and then maybe move into a high acuity ED.
i have specific questions on this matter. Im unsure which kind of hospital to choose (lg teaching hosp or community hosp) and which unit would give me the best and overall broadest experience?
As i mentioned, i live in Baltimore. so i have Hopkins and UMMC Shock Trauma available to me as well as other tertiary/community hospitals. I am interested in peds and adults, so, SICU, CSICU, PICU and NICU, and shock trauma (yes, a broad spectrum). which do you think i should seek first - what's the best natural progression i guess is what i'm trying to ask?
do you think ICU exp would be better to seek before shock trauma/high acuity ED and if so, which ICU exp. Since i mentioned im interested in both adults and peds, which do you think is a better progression and which would give me the most well-rounded exp: start with peds and move to adults or vice versa. and finally, if i had to choose betw PICU + NICU, which exp do feel would give me the most well-rounded exp for flight nursing?
Thank you so much for your time. this site is great!!

check out flightweb.com, both for the forums and for the job postings.

TraumaRN2 · Mar 4, 2008

check out flightweb.com, both for the forums and for the job postings.

You have to have critical care experience, at least one year. And ER experience is considered critical care experience.

GilaRRT · Mar 4, 2008

The reqirements vary from service to service. It is safe to say that many places look for at last 3 years of experience. The specifics will really depend on the specific mission profile of the service you are looking at for employment. For example, if the service specializes in facility transports where patients are pulled out of an ICU with multiple lines, hemodynamic monitoring, pacemakers, VAD's and IABP's, I would say solid CCU/ICU experience would be your best bet.

Having an ER background, I can say that I wish I would have obtained ICU experienc prior to flying. Many of the ER's I have worked in simply do stop gap measures, throw on the autovent 2000 (or call RT), and get the patient to ICU ASAP. Many of the critical care modalities are not used as often in the ER.

I see it like this. I will only fly with a paramedic partner. What does my medic want me to bring to the table as his/her partner. They have the scene response and emergency medical knowledge down cold. That is the bread and butter of their edication. I find many medics want me to bring solid knowledge of critical care to the team. This can be hit or miss with ER experience. We all know that greater than 50% of your general ER cases are non emergent in nature.