Nurses are important people in the medical world. They are the ones who attend to patients around the clock, assist doctors in carrying out medical procedures, and generally care for ailing and sickly people. Nurses make themselves useful in many other niches of medicine aside from the hospital. The same is true for flight nurses. This is a specialized nursing career that requires a bit more training.
It will take extended education in order to become a flight nurse. You will have to begin by completing your requirements as a licensed nurse before pursuing further education in the specialization of your choice. You can get a good deal of the nursing continuing education you'll need to become a flight nurse through an accredited online university.
You will have to display certain traits to become a flight nurse. These traits include having a good bedside manner, competence with both theoretical medical knowledge and procedures, confidence, composure and an engaging personality.
You can become a nurse in these four ways.
- You can obtain a traditional four-year degree. Get your Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing.
- Community colleges also offer associate degrees in nursing. It is a shorter route, and only takes two years to complete.
- A few community colleges and health science programs also offer RN diploma programs that are a few credit hours short of an associate’s degree. You will still posses an RN licensure, and the ability to practice as an RN but not the associate’s degree.
- The shortest path to nursing is the Licensed Practical Nurse diploma. This program is very intense, and takes a full year to complete. However, you will not be able to become a flight nurse with an LPN diploma as RNs are required for this job due to the ability to push certain medications, and hang blood. LPNs unfortunately are not allowed to hang blood or push certain medications.
Each state requires all nurses to complete a licensure exam. This is a required step that you need to take in order to practice as a nurse. This test is called the NCLEX—and you have to pass it before you can be hired for a job. You must study hard for this test.
Apply for jobs. After you have received your RN licensure you will start applying for jobs as an RN. If you have decided to become a flight nurse you will need to first gain experience as a nurse before you can apply and be considered for this job. Typically jobs in critical care, ICU, or med-surge units will give you excellent experience for this job. During this time you will need to take continuing education credits (CEUs) on a yearly basis in order to renew your nursing licensure. These are offered through Health Sciences schools online, or in person for a small fee. You can also choose to take CEUs through your job as well, but you will not have a big selection of courses. Becoming a flight nurse has special requirements so you will want to try to focus your CEUs around the subjects needed, as well as keep in shape.
Get flight nurse training. A flight nurse has specialized training in high-level trauma and rescue. Flight nurses are found everywhere, attached to flight crews in case of a medical emergency. Flight nurses need to be in excellent condition and have great stamina, as being a flight nurse is a very physically demanding job. Wherever they are flown to, they have to be able to get to the patient as quickly as possible. It is entirely possible for a flight nurse to have to slide down a ravine or climb a steep incline, or even wade through water while making sure their equipment is safe.
If you want to become a flight nurse—you will need to have completed these steps for putting in an application to become one.
- After graduation from nursing school, work in an ICU or ER setting to gain critical care experience. While you are working you will need to work on every single type of certification possible for life support (pediatric, cardiac, basic, etc.). You will also want to take trauma classes as well.
- Take paramedic or EMT classes, most programs require your certification in these. You can also go on ride alongs to gain experience.
- After you have four years of experience as a nurse in the ICU/ER, begin looking into Flight Nurse programs. Programs require five years of experience as a nurse plus the above requirements. Unfortunately you cannot join any programs for the Army, or become a flight nurse for the Army if you are a civilian. These jobs are specifically for members of the military only.
These nurses are there for fast response to medical emergencies. Wherever an emergency happens, if a hospital is too far, flight crews with flight nurses are needed to handle the situation. People who enter this career have good job prospects, and can expect to earn approximately $70,000 a year. Since the nursing profession will always be needed, the job outlook for flight nurse jobs is good.