Calling an ambulance is a nearly universal way to receive emergency care, at least in urban areas, and paramedic services are a familiar part of most communities. Emergency medical services are more frequently delivered air to outlying communities, disasters, and many military operations. An emergency medical technician, or EMT, who specializes in transporting ill or injured patients air is known as a flight paramedic. Flight paramedics are in charge of stabilizing patients in the field, treating them while in flight, and then transporting them to a hospital with a detailed report on their injuries and treatments.
A flight paramedic is a medical provider who has specialized training in trauma situations. Normally, flight crews are only dispatched in life-threatening situations. They are dispatched to transport critically ill patients when driving to a hospital would take longer than the patient would live if left untreated. A flight paramedic’s job is to locate the injured party or parties on the scene, stabilize them for air travel, load them onto the aircraft, and treat them while they are being transported to surgery or more specialized hospital care.
Flight paramedics are often regarded as the elite of the paramedic profession, as joining an emergency flight team typically requires many years of field experience. In comparison to performing medical treatments and procedures in the back of a moving ambulance, performing medical treatments and procedures in an airplane or helicopter is a slightly different science. While necessary procedures are frequently the same, altitude and air quality can influence how they must be carried out.
A paramedic must typically have at least five years of critical-care EMT experience to join a flight team, though specific requirements vary jurisdiction. A prospective flight paramedic must usually obtain flight paramedic certification as well. Passing a series of exams geared toward the specifics of the flight trauma experience is usually required to obtain certification.
At least one flight nurse and one flight paramedic, as well as at least one aircraft pilot, are usually dispatched with medical flights. The flight paramedic is almost always higher in rank and skill than the nurse, but they usually work together in most situations. Both the nurse and the paramedic perform the duties of a flight EMT on the job. Typically, the pilot is not a medical professional.
There are a variety of paramedic jobs that revolve around flight. Most accidents and serious injuries in rural areas necessitate helicopter or plane transport, and EMTs hired for these positions must be willing to fly. When the nearest hospitals are full, flight paramedics in urban areas respond to mass-casualty situations and, in some cases, transport critical patients between hospitals. Most military medics, especially those stationed in war zones or in remote areas of the world, are also trained and certified as flight paramedics.