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.
