You are transporting a patient whose only hope is you and your team. Your limited space, the weight of your equipment, and the limited time you have to help your patient are all working against you, yet you do everything you can to defeat the odds. What does it take to be a flight nurse?
Misconceptions
There are many misconceptions about this line of work, including a very good paycheck, getting paid to travel, and the perk of being able to work outside the normal working environment for a nurse. With so many reasons for becoming a flight nurse, why wouldn't everyone want to become one?
When working hard every day you go to work, you can hope for a good pay check to reward you for all the work you've done. Often, a lot of this work can be overlooked, including the hours beyond your normal load. Many flight nurses work on salary; this means that, in a way, there is no limit of the amount of hours a flight nurse may work in a week. Picture this: you're on a helicopter transferring a patient a hundred miles or more from where you're stationed. By the time you get back to the base, you have an hour left of your shift, and you get a call from an hour or two away. Are you just going to wait for the next shift to get it?
Flight nurses are considered the creme of the crop because they're willing to put patients' needs in front of their own.
Have you ever wanted to see the world but wanted to get paid to do it?
Many nurses believe that flight nursing is similar to travel nursing, which allows you to see new places and change your location frequently. Although this is true, flight nurses usually do not see anything besides the walls of a hospital when transporting patients. Since the patients that flight nurses transport have such a high acuity, they can't afford to waste time by sightseeing and checking out new places nearby; they must be ready to go when another emergency presents itself. When on the clock, flight nurses are consumed in the well-being of others, not play time.
The many areas of nursing can go on forever: hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation center, clinics, etc. Although the emergency department and intensive care units can offer the driven, adrenaline-hungry individual a place to "play," some nurses don't want to stay in a typical workplace for too long. The helicopter can seem like an exciting work environment; what many nurses overlook is the small quarters of the helicopter, which is occupied by the patient, the flight nurse, and often additional staff responsible for the patient. There are often restrictions on height and weight for flight nurses, which narrows the pool of applicants greatly. A flight nurse must be able to perform life-saving procedures without much room to roam.
Flight Nursing Challenges
With all the challenges of flight nursing, you may ask why my dream is to become one. When I think of flight nursing, I think of the ultimate sacrifices that these nurses are making. Rather than spending time with their family, they'll miss a birthday party to treat a dying patient. Instead of getting to bed on time, they'll spend two hours beyond their shift to transport a patient who would otherwise not make it if they'd waited for the next shift.
I want to be a flight nurse because I feel like it would be the ultimate job to be able to save a person's life. This patient could be someone's grandmother, mother, father, sister, or baby brother, and at the end of the day, I would know that I took a front-row seat to help them stay around a little longer. Although I know there's a chance that a patient may be lost, the possibility that I can impact a patient's life in such a large way makes me passionate about flight nursing.
Considering that not everyone can do it, flight nursing is a very challenging yet rewarding line of work. Although many sacrifices must be made in a nurse's life to become one, the many lessons and what you gain from this field are well worth it.
No personal attack. Only stating there is no room for negativity or bitterness in the HELO. This a HUGE safety issue for the crew and patient. Choosing the right flight program is the major point. Education and safety will be their top priority. If the FN has the support they need, they are more likely to have job satisfaction. No program is fail safe. The opinions of FN from different types of flight programs are going to produce different perspectives concerning job satisfaction, job expectations and overall opinion. I fly for a great program that provides all the resources I need for success and safety. I'm not a glorified ALS provider in the sky. We rarely fly medical patients from A to B. We don't minimalize the specialized training of a FN and acknowledge FN are held to a high clinical standard. We acknowledge we have late calls and yes we like to get off on time, but duty calls and we leave our opinions at base and go do what we have trained for most of our nursing careers. At the end of the day, we have made a difference in a least one person's life. That's why we do what we do. It's all about perspective and what type of flight service you have worked for that molds your opinion. Again, choose the flight program wisely. It will make or break you. You made the right choice to leave a program that refused to have NVGs.
When you accuse me of being negative, call me burned out and say I'm a detriment to my crew and the patient then yes that IS a personal attack. I have been in this business a long time. I've seen the changes. There was a time when the only patients that were flown were critical in nature. That is NOT the case now. HEMS is a big business and they have a bottom line. To meet that bottom line they need to fly patients. Tell me the last time your company refused a flight because it wasn't necessary. The OP made it sound like we are some sort of heroes (I may not be flying now but I always will be a Flight Nurse at heart) and I'm sorry that is really overstating it. If you really think you are some sort of hero for doing this then I'm afraid your ego will get you in trouble some day. Yes we are held to a high standard but so are ED nurses and ICU nurses and gasp...med-surg nurses. We aren't the only nurses that have a duty and respond to that duty without complaint because that's what we do. In fact if you want to compare things ground transport nurses are much more likely to go over shift and for much longer periods of time because they don't have the pilot flight time restrictions. Ask me about my epic 36 hour transport. I know more than a few ICU and ED nurses who have just as many certs as I did as a flight nurse. They are highly educated and function at the same level without the procedures but let's face it anybody with half a brain can learn how to do the procedures. The public may view flight nurses as some sort of epic characters but our peers often see us as arrogant putzes especially when we think of ourselves as just soooo much better than everyone else.
Finally, in your effort to glorify yourself in your current position you failed to read or comprehend the last paragraph of my first post. You know, the part where I encouraged the OP to follow her dream because flight nursing is a wonderful career. How exactly was that negative? Oh wait, I guess you omitted that because it didn't support your accusations against me.
FTR: I loved my time as a flight nurse. I loved the job and the excitement and the learning and the challenges that went with it. I just managed to keep a level head and avoided the delusion that I was better than my peers simply because I wore a cool suit. And I won't let some stranger who may or may not actually be a flight nurse denigrate me or my professionalism without fighting back.
No ego here. I am humbled every day by my position. Not every flight program is built the same.A Comm center triages calls and works with referring facilities to determine the proper mode of transport, ground vs air. We can't make blanketed statements about flight programs. They are all created differently. I highly suggest seeking out a CAMTS certified program for those wanting to pursue FN. Best of luck.
Creme of the crop? What a load of bull! A nurse is a nurse is a nurse. I work in cvicu with a very sICK set of patient populations, and have worked in various areas of icu and ER for the last few years. And at the end of the day, my job ain't no different than that of a clinic or med surg rn. We are all here to care for the patient. I dont like the Apple's to oranges comparison. This whole article from the OP needs some revisions.
I appreciate all the criticism, and I say criticism because that's all I've received. This was an expository writing piece, not a research article. This was from my point of view, and if you don't like what I have to say, don't read it. My nursing experience is actually in hospice by the way, not a nursing home, and yes, I have seen plenty of suffering during my extremely short time being a nurse. I've also seen my mom post-CPR, hooked up to a vent with a thousand tubes and lines in her, watching the nurses perform a three hour code on her, knowing she wouldn't make it, but clinging to a miracle. I'm not stupid, I know not everyone makes it. In my opinion, after seeing that, I have seen the worst. Call me crazy, I'm still a young nurse that's excited to be a nurse and I'm not burnt out yet, but I don't think I should be ridiculed for it.
I appreciate all the criticism, and I say criticism because that's all I've received. This was an expository writing piece, not a research article. This was from my point of view, and if you don't like what I have to say, don't read it. My nursing experience is actually in hospice by the way, not a nursing home, and yes, I have seen plenty of suffering during my extremely short time being a nurse. I'm not stupid, I know not everyone makes it. Call me crazy, I'm still a young nurse that's excited to be a nurse and I'm not burnt out yet, but I don't think I should be ridiculed for it.
When you write something under the guise of being an article the expectation is the information you present is accurate. Nobody expects you to approach it as research but at minimum you should get your facts straight. Nobody ridiculed you. Not one person. I simply pointed out some serious inaccuracies in your piece and a very blatant smack in the face to nurses in other specialties who also make huge personal sacrifices in the name of good patient care. A dose of reality was needed for people reading this and frankly for you. It's fine to talk about what you dream of doing but it isn't fine to present, as fact, the glamorized picture you painted. I apologize for mixing up your current position. That was unintentional but I never attacked you personally. I did not call you stupid or burned out. YOU were never picked apart. But you have to think that if people who actually do/or did this job have a problem with what you are saying then there just might be something to what they are saying.
I have to agree with the previous poster.I am certainly not burnt out, but am a bsn prepared rn with years of experience, and currently pursuing a msn in nursing. When you present an opinion as an ARTICLE, then it needs to have statistical based research to validate the findings. I am not trying to sound hateful, but presenting a fluff opinion as a fact is how many rumors get started. And then opinions are cited as facts. The fact is a nurse is a nurse is a nurse. Making statements that elevate one particular field of nursing and placing that area of nursing onto a pedestal is simply not something that should be done. We are all patient advocates, no matter the role.
One more working Flight Crew Member here. I have to say nearly all of what FlyingScot has said is spot on. Saves me from saying much of the same. My first thought before I even finished reading the original post was "this person clearly hasn't worked in our industry."
Having said that, I am very happy in air medical transport. I can't think of any other civilian job I want to do. The pay is not unusually good. We can work very long hours. (I work fixed-wing long-distance transports that can be as short as an hour or as long as 18 hours or more.) The physiological stressors of flight can leave one pretty worn at times. As noted, it is a job with higher risks than any other nursing job. ESPECIALLY, not only, if the company is not no-compromise careful about maintenance and safety.
I will argue that the level of individual responsibility and initiative required in air medical transport (let's remember that the non-nurse partner is working the same job and responsibilities in the end) is much greater than anywhere else. Even a little more so than ground transport. Once you're in the air with the patient, you have only your partner and your gear that's on-board to handle everything the patient needs. (In some anticipated cases, like the patient on ECMO and a balloon pump and vent, you'll take extra staff to handle everything; but then there won't be much room to move if the sh*t hits the fan.) You won't be able to call a code and have a bunch of folks come to help, bringing additional resources with them. You won't even be able to pull over to have a quieter, more stable work platform. And often (usually) you won't have good communication with medical oversight.
As noted, the percentage of fatalities from work accidents (read: crashing helicopters and airplanes) is way beyond that of folks working in-house.
That kind of responsibility and risk doesn't suit everyone.
The industry has changed radically, mostly for the worse; even in the ten years that I've been doing civilian medical transports. There are many more companies vying for business. As a result, many of them hire folks less suited for the job. Not just nurses and medics; but pilots and mechanics, too. Safety has suffered, and patient care has suffered. That is absolutely true in the industry overall. There ARE some companies out there with very high standards, as it should be; but that is no longer true of the entire industry the way it once (nearly) was.
And to be clear, flight nursing isn't only in helicopters. Some crews work Rotor Wing (helicopters), some crews work Fixed Wing (propeller or jet aircraft). Some crews do lots of scene responses or EMS intercepts (especially in rural states); some do mostly interfacility transports. Many of the patients flown today in the US don't really need air transport. They get flown for any number of reasons; but what is for sure is that every unnecessary flight increases risks. But there is much more documented over-utilization of air medical resources than there was 10 or 20 years ago.
As I say, I can't think of a better civilian job for me. But romanticized representations don't help the public understand the industry; and don't help nurses know what they can aspire to. I think it is a job to aspire to, if it suits one; but that needs to be done knowing what the educational and professional demands of the job are; what the very real risks are; and what the industry as-a-whole is really like. And yes, if one does want to do this job - be VERY selective about who you're willing to work for. Do the homework and be sure the bosses and employees will make maximum effort to try and keep you safe, be sure the standard of care is top-notch, and be sure you are given adequate and well-maintained and supplied resources to do the job. Be 100% willing to walk away from a job opportunity if it doesn't seem right for any reason.
I may have taken it a little too personally before, I understand I have a long way to go and I appreciate any advice seasoned nurses can give me to get to where you guys are now. I feel like every nurse believes their specialty to be the best because it is what they enjoy the most; all specialties are important and offer a different attribute to nursing. My passion is Emergency Nursing and trauma, which may not be every other nurse's cup of tea. Thank you all for adding important points to consider.
When I think of flight nursing, I think of the ultimate sacrifices that these nurses are making. Rather than spending time with their family, they'll miss a birthday party to treat a dying patient. Instead of getting to bed on time, they'll spend two hours beyond their shift to transport a patient who would otherwise not make it if they'd waited for the next shift.
Jamie, the above listed attributes can be ascribed to many nurses in countless different specialties. I do applaud your zeal for pursuing this realm of nursing, but I think FlyingScot did an excellent job in bringing the view of FN's back to reality. The fact is, much to the dismay of QBRN, many specialties exist that require a significant amount of training as well as education; considering a given specialty the "crème of the crop" is a significant knowledge deficit on the part of the speaker.
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
What is/are NVGs?
I had visions of becoming a flight nurse waaaay back, when it was the French fighting in Laos, before it became the Americans fighting in Vietnam. Our ministers brother was involved in medical missionary work in the Far East, and talking with him had me very, very excited and interested in helping out. I had it all planned out in my head: was going to join the Air Force and get my RN and be a flight nurse in medical transport. GUNG HO!
Then my mother pointed out to me that Laos was a very hot and humid place. She knew how much I disliked summertime for those two reasons.
FlyingScot, RN
2,016 Posts
When you accuse me of being negative, call me burned out and say I'm a detriment to my crew and the patient then yes that IS a personal attack. I have been in this business a long time. I've seen the changes. There was a time when the only patients that were flown were critical in nature. That is NOT the case now. HEMS is a big business and they have a bottom line. To meet that bottom line they need to fly patients. Tell me the last time your company refused a flight because it wasn't necessary. The OP made it sound like we are some sort of heroes (I may not be flying now but I always will be a Flight Nurse at heart) and I'm sorry that is really overstating it. If you really think you are some sort of hero for doing this then I'm afraid your ego will get you in trouble some day. Yes we are held to a high standard but so are ED nurses and ICU nurses and gasp...med-surg nurses. We aren't the only nurses that have a duty and respond to that duty without complaint because that's what we do. In fact if you want to compare things ground transport nurses are much more likely to go over shift and for much longer periods of time because they don't have the pilot flight time restrictions. Ask me about my epic 36 hour transport. I know more than a few ICU and ED nurses who have just as many certs as I did as a flight nurse. They are highly educated and function at the same level without the procedures but let's face it anybody with half a brain can learn how to do the procedures. The public may view flight nurses as some sort of epic characters but our peers often see us as arrogant putzes especially when we think of ourselves as just soooo much better than everyone else.
Finally, in your effort to glorify yourself in your current position you failed to read or comprehend the last paragraph of my first post. You know, the part where I encouraged the OP to follow her dream because flight nursing is a wonderful career. How exactly was that negative? Oh wait, I guess you omitted that because it didn't support your accusations against me.
FTR: I loved my time as a flight nurse. I loved the job and the excitement and the learning and the challenges that went with it. I just managed to keep a level head and avoided the delusion that I was better than my peers simply because I wore a cool suit. And I won't let some stranger who may or may not actually be a flight nurse denigrate me or my professionalism without fighting back.