To become a flight nurse in the US, you need to be a registered nurse with at least two years of experience in intensive care or emergency rooms. Additional certifications can increase opportunities. Military flight nurses need to be under 47 and complete a six-week training program. Flight nurses can work in disaster sites, remote areas, and airlift critically ill patients to trauma, burn, cardiac, pediatric, and stroke centers. Some airlines and wealthy individuals hire flight nurses.
To become a flight nurse in the United States, you first need to become a registered nurse (RN) by completing a nursing program at a regionally accredited college or hospital and passing a national exam. It is also recommended that you have at least two years of experience working as a nurse in a hospital’s intensive care unit or emergency room. Obtaining additional national certifications greatly increases your opportunities to become a flight nurse. You will also need to remain calm and react quickly in highly stressful situations.
You can obtain several types of certifications that can help you become a flight nurse. You don’t need flight experience to become a Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN), Certified Critical Care Nurse (CCRN) or Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). Obtaining credentials as a certified flight nurse (CFRN) can usually only be obtained after you gain in-flight experience.
In the United States, a flight nurse can work in the military or as a civilian. The above mentioned qualifications are the minimum required to work as a civilian. If you want to become a flight nurse in the military, you will also need to be under 47 years of age, willing to complete the six-week training program required by the US Air Force, and hold a bachelor’s degree if you want to serve. in active service. This is not a requirement to work as a reservist. Having any type of military flight nurse experience greatly increases your opportunities to become a flight nurse as a civilian.
Flight nurses can be members of emergency medical teams responding to disaster sites, such as those hit by earthquakes and tornadoes, and they can provide assistance in remote areas, such as a national forest. They treat critically ill patients who are airlifted, typically to trauma centers for care. Other medical facilities that patients may be airlifted to include burn centers, cardiac centers, pediatric centers, and stroke centers. All flight nurses are highly trained and skilled in basic and advanced life support, skills that other health care providers, including physicians, may not possess to the same level if they do not specialize in emergency medical care.
You might consider working for a major airline in your quest to become a flight nurse because some of them employ healthcare professionals for people who have special medical needs and need to travel by air. Some people, like wealthy business people, hire a flight nurse to accompany them on all their travels, so this is another potential option for you. While the job can be very stressful, depending on the type of employer you work for, most flight nurses agree that their career is a rewarding one.
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