"Secret Life of a Soccer Mom": Flight nurse!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in ICU.

The new show "Secret Life of a Soccer Mom," which is on TLC Sunday nights will have a woman who will live the life of a flight nurse. Just a heads up!:)

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Specializes in ICU, CCU, Trauma, neuro, Geriatrics.

Cool!!! I think she will get her hair cut short to avoid 'Helmet Head' otherwise I won't believe how good she looks giving report at bedside.. Tehee

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I'm so jeolous! As a "soccer mom", that is currently a pre-nursing student, that is "too old" to ever realize the dream, I would LOVE to have "just one shot" as a flight nurse!!!

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Specializes in Cardiothoracic Transplant Telemetry.

I actually haven't seen this series, but I have a problem with the trailers. They talk about the dreams that the mom gave up to be a stay at home mom, and then they cut to telling the mom that while the kids are at work and school and think that she is at a spa, that she will really be living her dream. Supposedly at the end she will be faced with her choices and decide whether to leave the home to go to work?

I don't like that the show makes the family think that the mom is at a spa. If she is ready to go back to the workforce, or is thinking about doing so, why hide it from the family? I just see the old stigma of "just a housewife" coming into play, and as someone who grew up with a stay-at-home mom, I am sensitive to the perceived stigma

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I don't think that there is a terrible stigma to being a stay at home mother. I think there is just as much of a stigma, if not more, to being a working mom. To each her own. We all give up dreams when we make choices. Otherwise, there would be no choice. It would always be easy and obvious what to do. I know plenty of working moms who would dream of being a stay at home mom for awhile. At least, it isn't another reality show w/ women in bikinis eating worms, crazy families w/ 20 children, or models b*tching at each other. I might watch the flight nurse episode. It looks interesting. I don't know if the series really interests me, but because it is nurse stuff for this episode, I will watch it. It is okay to be sick of being a mom sometimes, just like you get pretty sick of being a nurse on many days! We all need a little break.

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I'm kind of mystified by the promo for this one. I mean, the beauty of being a nurse is that there are a GAZILLION flexible PRN and part-time opportunities for nurses that allow you a great balance between work and home. Nursing is truly a profession where it doesn't have to be the proverbial "all or nothing."

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Specializes in ICU, Flight, ER, Admin.
I'm so jeolous! As a "soccer mom", that is currently a pre-nursing student, that is "too old" to ever realize the dream, I would LOVE to have "just one shot" as a flight nurse!!!

Why would you think that?? One of the nurses that I flew with was nearly 60 before she stopped flying. Our service had two choppers, two lears, and a turbo prop ... so you can imagine how busy we were ... she kept up just fine. If you really want to fly ... then do it! After you graduate from nursing school, get 4-5 years of good ICU experience in a surgical unit that not only does shock-trauma, but one that does open hearts. After a few years as a nurse in CVICU recovering bypass and heart/lung transplant patients, you will have the critical thinking skills and a good knowledge base (especially if you work for a highly acute CVICU that gets VADs and the messy heart patient's with 50 billion other health problems). The most important thing needed to be a flight nurse is CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS and being ORGANIZED. I am not an organized person, but luckily, my fellow flight nurses were! The clinical skills are pretty much the same as what an ICU/ER nurse or Paramedic posseses ... and that is the easy part ... pretty much you either have them or you don't. Oh, and last, you need to be able to advocate for the safety of you, your partner, your pilot, and your patient ... don't be afraid to trust your insticts and turn down a mission or stop one in progress.

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the show will be great to watch! The company that she flew with, PHI Air Evac, is one of the oldest in the region and those RNs really know their stuff. Not only are they working on emergent scene calls but with this company they also fly across the country with patients. We had to move my Father last year and the case manager RNs at the hospital referred us to this company. They couldnt have taken better care of him if he were their Dad. They were a shining example of what RNs are in this career for, true patient care and compassion. It was such a traumatic time for us, knowing that our Dad was coming home to pass away. I had a new found appreciation for what all RNs do, because of PHI RNs. I watched them care for him from his bed in the Arizona hospital into the ambulance, to the airport in Phoenix, then on to Illinois, and finally taking him by ambulance to the hospital in our home town and turning over his care to our family DR. Our Dad passed away shortly after but to have him home with such care and compassion, and for my Mom too who flew along with them. It was what they do every day but to us it meant the world. Thanks to all of the Flight RNs at PHI. We will never forget your kindness.

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Specializes in ICU.

Just bumping this up because the show comes on tonight at 8pm!

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Specializes in ICU.
Why would you think that?? One of the nurses that I flew with was nearly 60 before she stopped flying. Our service had two choppers, two lears, and a turbo prop ... so you can imagine how busy we were ... she kept up just fine. If you really want to fly ... then do it! After you graduate from nursing school, get 4-5 years of good ICU experience in a surgical unit that not only does shock-trauma, but one that does open hearts. After a few years as a nurse in CVICU recovering bypass and heart/lung transplant patients, you will have the critical thinking skills and a good knowledge base (especially if you work for a highly acute CVICU that gets VADs and the messy heart patient's with 50 billion other health problems). The most important thing needed to be a flight nurse is CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS and being ORGANIZED. I am not an organized person, but luckily, my fellow flight nurses were! The clinical skills are pretty much the same as what an ICU/ER nurse or Paramedic posseses ... and that is the easy part ... pretty much you either have them or you don't. Oh, and last, you need to be able to advocate for the safety of you, your partner, your pilot, and your patient ... don't be afraid to trust your insticts and turn down a mission or stop one in progress.

Just curious--why do you specify open hearts? Is this because of the high acuity care/critical thinking skills that comes along with caring for these patients or something else in particular?

I am only curious because I am doing my preceptorship (final semester) in CSICU and I hope to work there.

Thanks:)

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Specializes in ICU.

Any thoughts on the show?

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Specializes in LDRP.

watched it--what fun! :)

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