Resources to brush up on?

Dobi · Feb 23, 2017

It is hard to say what you need to "Brush up" on without knowing the transport population of the service. Will you be doing 911 call? Is it mostly interfacility? Will you be working out of a hospital or a private ambulance service? What is the crew configuration? Will you be transporting specialty teams? You may find an ED background is not adequate preparation for the transport environment especially when called to transport IABP, invasive lines and ventilator management.

If it is a reputable program they will put you through some clinical time and training. For starters I would read Retrieval Medicine, Patient Transport (ASTNA) and the ICU book.

RickyRescueRN, BSN, RN · Feb 27, 2017

Your question and detail in it are a bit vague. If you are planning on working Critical Care Transport, then getting Critical Care /ICU experience will be most advantageous as most ER nursing does not involve actually making ventilator adjustments, based on ABG's that you draw, or transducing and interpreting and acting on data from Pulmonary catheters (Swann Ganz) , ICP monitors and ventriculostomies, titrating multiple IV infusions according to hemodynamic parameters.

If you plan to do CCT you definitely need ICU experience. Remember ( as I always remind new nurses to the transport specialty) you are held entirely liable for the care that you do or do not render while the patient is in your care. The buck stops with the transport nurse. Unfortunately, as a Legal nurse consultant in this specialty, many flight and CCT nurses do not recognize the huge legal implications nurses have in caring for patients outside of the hospital , without any direct supervision of a physician. Definitely take a critical care course , attend NTI (AACN) , get to the Critical Care Transport Medicine Conference in San Antonio TX this year in April. Take your CCRN board certification. Unfortunately critical care nursing takes experience and ultimately, that cannot be learned online or out of a book.