To work as a flight nurse in the United States, you must first complete a nursing program at a regionally accredited college or hospital and pass a national exam to become a registered nurse (RN). You should also have at least two years of experience as a nurse in a hospital’s critical care unit or emergency department. Adding more national certifications to your resume will greatly improve your chances of becoming a flight nurse. In high-stress situations, you’ll also need the ability to remain calm and react quickly.
You can obtain a variety of certifications that will assist you in becoming a flight nurse. To become a certified emergency nurse (CEN), certified critical care nurse (CCRN), or emergency medical technician, you don’t need any prior flight experience (EMT). Only after you have gained flight experience can you earn certification as a certified flight registered nurse (CFRN).
A flight nurse can work in the military or as a civilian in the United States. The aforementioned credentials are the bare minimum required to work as a civilian. If you want to serve on active duty as a flight nurse in the military, you must be younger than 47 years old, willing to complete the six-week training program required by the US Air Force, and have a bachelor’s degree. Working as a reservist does not require this. Having any kind of military flight nurse experience improves your chances of becoming a civilian flight nurse.
Flight nurses may be part of emergency medical teams that respond to disasters such as earthquakes and tornadoes, or they may provide care in remote locations such as a national forest. They care for critically ill patients who have been airlifted to trauma centers. Burn centers, cardiac centers, pediatric centers, and stroke centers are among the medical facilities to which patients may be airlifted. All flight nurses are highly trained and skilled in basic and advanced life support, skills that other health care providers, such as physicians, may lack if they do not specialize in emergency medical care.
In your quest to become a flight nurse, you might want to consider working for a large airline, as some of them employ healthcare workers for people with special medical needs who need to travel by plane. Some people, such as wealthy businessmen, hire a flight nurse to accompany them on all of their trips; this is another option for you to consider. Despite the fact that the job can be stressful depending on the type of employer, most flight nurses agree that it is a rewarding career.