Tell me about your job

getoverit, BSN, RN, EMT-P · Jan 30, 2008

Hey there. part of it is emergent situations, "Scene calls" responding to out-of-hospital trauma. also are interfacility transports, either from ER/OR/ICU to ER/OR/ICU. Some very interesting situations can present themselves that way.

But the flights are few compared to the downtime (for the most part). So checking the readiness of the aircraft, weather patterns, etc. are daily routines. lots of outreach education for hospital and local Fire/EMS crews. PR events, LZ classes, occasional newspaper or TV articles. Whatever the hospital admin thinks up! The helicopter is one of the biggest, travelling advertisments for the health system.

and we have lots of continuing ed every year. I wish the hours could carry over because I usually end up with about 150+ each year.

Hope that answers your question. I"m sure there are others on here who could elaborate much better than I can.

alvincctrn · Mar 18, 2008

Ditto, what RNREMT-P said. You also might do NICU runs with specialty rn/md/rcp teams , we do that a fair amount with an isolette that fits our gurney base. Scenes are more fun!:chuckle

getoverit, BSN, RN, EMT-P · Mar 19, 2008

alvincctrn,

hey. what type A/C do you use? how do you configure your NICU transports? RN/RCP? EMT-P?

fly safe!

alvincctrn · Mar 28, 2008

Hey, RNREMT-P

We use Bell 222 UT's and Bell 407's. We used to have an older isolette that fit on to our gurney base but now all the major NICU teams in the Twin Cities have acquired their own isolettes that are made to fit on our gurney base. The isolettes are very nice but pretty huge, it just barely fits, but has full monitoring, vent and even oscillator/nitric capabilities.

For crew, we take one of our crew, either medic or nurse that act as a safety officer. The Nicu team usually consist of a Neonatal nurse practitioner, NICU nurse and a RCP. Sometimes an MD will substitute for the NP.