Helipad Trauma Nursing

Altra, BSN, RN · Jan 12, 2013

Flight crews are responsible for the patient until handover to hospital staff, wherever that occurs -- at the helipad, or elsewhere in the hospital.

TraumaBSN · Jan 12, 2013

So what kind of experience is necessary to be on a flight crew?

NicuGal, MSN, RN · Jan 12, 2013

Usually at least 2 years ICU/ER experience, many flight nurses are also paramedic/ EMT certified.

That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Jan 13, 2013

Usually at least 2 years ICU/ER experience, many flight nurses are also paramedic/ EMT certified.

Around here it is 5 years.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Jan 13, 2013

It varies with each company. Many are now BSN required.....min 5 years ICU and ED experience. Become a paramedic. Have you trauma certifications and your CEN CCRN, TNCC, ENPC. Many are now begining to require Masters/clinical specialist ED/ICU nursing.

When I did trauma flight is was very different...... min 5 yrs ED/trauma experience was really the only requirement and working in a Level 1 trauma center. You became a paramedic within 12 months of hire. ENPC/TNCC etc were not developed.

TraumaBSN · Jan 14, 2013

Thank you Esme12. That helps a lot. Definitely a dream of mine. I hope to do it some day.

PMFB-RN, RN · Jan 15, 2013

Any one work as a nurse on helicopter emergency transfers?? How did you get there, and what should I do to get there?

*** I work (casual, used to be full time) for an transport service that includes two helicopters and a number of ground ambulances in different locations. We run with an RN & parmedic team, the RN is team leader.

This service does not accept ER experience. All of our RN were hired from the SICU of the hospital that owns the service. In that hospital it is SICU nurses who respond to the trauma bays for trauma team activations. The ER staff are there to record vitals and run and fetch things. Thus it is the SICU RNs who get all of the trauam experince. As many of our transfers are acute medical and not trauma MICU experience is highly desirable, as is PICU. In this hospital it is very easy for SICU RNs to be cross trained and work in MICU and PICU, the hospital encourages it. The down side is that they will then use you as an ICU float pool. Most of our RNs are not paramedics but go through a pre-hospital training program when hired.

My advice it to get a job in the highest level ICU you can and if you can't take what you can get and use it as a stepping stone to higher levels of care. Getting training as EMT through paramedic is a good idea. Probaly the best way is to work in the ICU of a hospital that has it's own transport service and get to know the people who run the transport service. Most importantly build yourself a reputation as a top nurse. Always volenteer to care for the sickest patients and continue your learning. Get your CCRN and CEN certifications. Be a real team player. It's a very small team out there doing some hairy stuff. it doesn't work without team work and they look for a team player as well as leadership potential

BSN is not prefered or discriminated aginst in our service. Several of the other casual transport nurses are actually advanced practice nurses. We have several NPs and a couple CRNAs who still keep their toe in transport cause it is so much fun. I take a $14 an hour pay cut to do it compaired to my full time rapid response job inside a different hospital.

One of the things I know they look for is a nurse who can apply the "variable leadership principal" (I just made that up for lack of a better way of describing it) What they want is a nurse who can be a great team players, but if the situation requires it provide leadership and know when to back off on the leadership. For example many of our transports are from small rural hospital ERs to big hospital ICUs. When we arrive in these little hospitals you never know what you will find. Many times we have arrived to find the ER provider (MD, DO, NP, PA) in a total panic and not managing the situation effectivly. In that case we step in and provide effective leadership. Other times we arrive and find things well in hand and a very effective provider running the show (we alwasy try to stablize before loading on the aircraft or ambulance). In that case we back off on the leadership and function as highly skilled team members. It's a fine line to walk and doing it right is an art.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Jan 15, 2013

*** I work (casual, used to be full time) for an transport service that includes two helicopters and a number of ground ambulances in different locations. We run with an RN & paramedic team, the RN is team leader.
This service does not accept ER experience. All of our RN were hired from the SICU of the hospital that owns the service. In that hospital it is SICU nurses who respond to the trauma bays for trauma team activations. The ER staff are there to record vitals and run and fetch things. Thus it is the SICU RNs who get all of the trauma experience. As many of our transfers are acute medical and not trauma MICU experience is highly desirable, as is PICU. In this hospital it is very easy for SICU RNs to be cross trained and work in MICU and PICU, the hospital encourages it. The down side is that they will then use you as an ICU float pool. Most of our RNs are not paramedics but go through a pre-hospital training program when hired.
My advice it to get a job in the highest level ICU you can and if you can't take what you can get and use it as a stepping stone to higher levels of care. Getting training as EMT through paramedic is a good idea. Probably the best way is to work in the ICU of a hospital that has it's own transport service and get to know the people who run the transport service. Most importantly build yourself a reputation as a top nurse. Always volunteer to care for the sickest patients and continue your learning. Get your CCRN and CEN certifications. Be a real team player. It's a very small team out there doing some hairy stuff. it doesn't work without team work and they look for a team player as well as leadership potential
BSN is not preferred or discriminated against in our service. Several of the other casual transport nurses are actually advanced practice nurses. We have several NPs and a couple CRNAs who still keep their toe in transport cause it is so much fun. I take a $14 an hour pay cut to do it compared to my full time rapid response job inside a different hospital.
One of the things I know they look for is a nurse who can apply the "variable leadership principal" (I just made that up for lack of a better way of describing it) What they want is a nurse who can be a great team players, but if the situation requires it provide leadership and know when to back off on the leadership.
For example many of our transports are from small rural hospital ERs to big hospital ICUs. When we arrive in these little hospitals you never know what you will find. Many times we have arrived to find the ER provider (MD, DO, NP, PA) in a total panic and not managing the situation effectively. In that case we step in and provide effective leadership.
Other times we arrive and find things well in hand and a very effective provider running the show (we always try to stabilize before loading on the aircraft or ambulance). In that case we back off on the leadership and function as highly skilled team members.
It's a fine line to walk and doing it right is an art.

Absolutely agree with you.....I worked for a university and although we had transports we had trauma accident scene flight.....and it was 20 years ago....your advice is the up to date one.

PMFB-RN, RN · Jan 15, 2013

Absolutely agree with you.....I worked for a university and although we had transports we had trauma accident scene flight.....and it was 20 years ago....your advice is the up to date one.

*** Ya we do accident scene too However for every accident scene we do I would guess we do 4 or 5 critical care transports. A couple months ago I intubated a man in a barn with a dead bull laying across his pelvice/legs by flashlight while standing calf deep in liquid cow manure. THAT is why I take a $14 an hour pay cut to do it :)

TraumaBSN · Jan 17, 2013

HA!!! That intubation story is unreal! I greatly appreciate your experience, and will take it to heart. I love trauma more than any other field of nursing. Always have. Nothing excites me more about nursing the prospect of saving the life of an acutely ill patient. That being said, I will strive toward becoming a solid nurse and a fine addition to the team. Leadership is only as good as your experience, so I that's what I'm gonna get first.

PMFB-RN, RN · Jan 17, 2013

Don't forget that any transport service that uses RNs is going to see a lot of acute medical patients. Yes trauma is a lot of fun but acute medical is the bread and butter.