flight nurse

Warrior by Nelly

What is a Flight Nurse?

• RN who provides prehospital and emergency or critical nursing care to all types patients during transportation from the scene to the hospital.

• You need extensive training and certification.

• Arch or Airvac requires 5 years of ICU experience.

What do they do?

• Pick up• Transport• Stabilize• They provide more care than an EMT. Ie.

start an arterial line, intubate • They can get patients to where they need

to go faster than ground transportation

What goes down…

• Debbie’s experience shadowing a flight nurse.

What do I need to do to do this?!• ARCH or Airvac 5 yrs of ICU, ER, or paramedic• Have to be a registered nurse in MO and IL• 1. Get Certified!

– Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN) – Certified Critical Care Nurse (CCRN) – Paramedic (EMT-P) – NOTE: The Certified Flight Registered Nurse (CFRN) is not included as a prerequisite. Obtaining the

CFRN without having flight experience is a bit like trying to take the CEN without ever having worked in an emergency setting.

• 2. Get Trained!– Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) – Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) – Air-Medical Crew National Standard Curriculum – Any altitude physiology course (Karen Hamilton with Aeromedical Transport Specialists, Inc., offers a

course called "The Basics and Beyond: Aeromedical Concepts, her phone number is 804.874.4030. Karen's a bit O/C but as a result I would rate her course as "outstanding".)

– Trauma Nurse Core Course (TNCC) – Pre-hospital Advanced Life Support (PHTLS) – Basic Trauma Life Support (BTLS) – Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) – Neonatal Resuscitation Course (NRC) – Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) (even if you don't join a team)

• Need to do shadowing such as a rotation in pediatrics, OB, med-surg floor.– It takes 80-100 hours of continuing education!

• Cox, M. (1999, February 15). SO, YOU WANNA BE A FLIGHT NURSE?!. Retrieved July 7, 2009, from http://www.seaox.com/wannabe

Will I get a job immediately when I’m certified?

• Patience is a virtue…• Turnover rate is less than 5% a year

– Because this is such an amazing job!• Hang in there if you want to do this• If work at a hospital already you have a

better chance of getting on a team.• Especially if you know them. NETWORK!

• http://www.wjhg.com/the7scene/headlines/44563282.html

Where can I do this?• Childrens & Cardinal

Glennon have nursing teams but ARCH has the helicopter.

• ARCH has 12 locations that service Missouri and Illinois

• AirVac has 10 location that service MO and IL

• Every state has their own companies.

Who do you take care of?

• Serve the whole community (including vulnerable populations)– Pediatrics– rural

• Locations that don’t have access to a Level I trauma center.

• The nurses that work for Children’s and Glennon transport patients from other hospitals.– They don’t do organ transport.

Benefits this nursing role provides to the community

• Safe….• QUICK transportation to the hospital

• NOTE: Helicopter is much better transport than ambulance for a critical situation.

• When time is critical, air transport saves valuable minutes. They make a difference between life and death.

Who does the flight nurse collaborate with?

• Works with paramedics and hospitals.– Paramedics at the scene– MDs give approval for orders– Dispatch regarding transfer patients to hospitals

• They also work with police officers and firefighters– Safely remove patients from accidents/scenes

• The scene can be chaotic but you’re there to get only one patient even if there is 20 patients at the scene.

How do you promote health and prevent disease in your environment?

• You will see nurses at the hospital DC “field IVs” or other lines started.– Why?

• These situations are dirty.– Before starting an IV, the flight nurse took 3 alcohol

wipes to clean a site and every wipe was filthy.

• You have to try to be as clean as you can while trying to get the patient to the hospital as quick as possible.

what impact does a flight nurse have on the larger community

• They get a critical care patient out of a harmful situation.

• In rural areas, patients would be at the will of a hospital that may not have the ability to care for a critically ill patient.

So you think you wanna do this? I DO!!!!

Reference

• 2009). ARCH air medical service - the leader in critical care air transport . Retrieved  July 3, 2009, from Arch Air Medical Web site: http://www.archairmedical.com/

• Cox, M. (1999, February 15). SO, YOU WANNA BE A FLIGHT NURSE?!. Retrieved  July 7, 2009, from  http://www.seaox.com/wannabe

• Gray Interactive Media , (2009 May 7). Flight nurse. Retrieved July 6, 2009, from  WJHG Web site: http://www.wjhg.com/the7scene/headlines/44563282.html#

• Nies, M.A, & McEwen, M (Eds.). (2007). Community/public health nursing. St. Louis:  Saunders. 

• Interview:  Chris, RN;Lisa, RN; Jim, Pilot