Flight Nurse Jobs

Flight Nurse Jobs - Openings - Employment

There is a high demand for flight nurses and as time goes by, more and more nurses are needed to fill flight nurse jobs, positions and openings around the United States and Canada. If you're interested in becoming a flight nurse or in ground surface transport nursing, a flight RN or a medical escort and just want to know more about flight nursing, in flight nursing, life flight nursing or medical flight nursing there are a few things you'll want to know about flight nurses and flight nursing jobs in the U. S., Canada and other countries.

Or you may be interested in becoming a flight paramedic, flight respiratory therapist of flight physician, which are other flight specialties. Flight nursing is a great nursing profession.  There are many requirements - skills, abilities and qualifications that are needed for a flight nursing job. Many flight nurses, both male and female, have come from other health and medical fields and/or were paramedics or emergency technicians.

What Do Flight Nurses Do?

A flight nurse can have several patient transports in one day.  During a flight on a plane or helicopter you may be opening or securing an airway on a baby, child or adult. You may be repositioning, providing stimulation, administering oxygen. You may be transporting a premature baby, organs for transplant, an automobile accident victim, a myocardial infarction victim (heart attack), repositioning or transporting a patient or baby to another hospital.

You may have to do interventional cardiac catheterization, start intravenous lines, have code cart ready to use, use a ventilator, an intra-aortic balloon pump, a left ventricular device, move a patient carefully, work with an obstetric patient, etc.  Sometimes you may have to do your work in an ambulance if there isn't a helipad at the hospital or other medical or trauma facility, center or location.

Flight Nurse Job Skills, Abilities

Some of the qualities you'll need to have for jobs for flight nurses are a high level of quick critical thinking skills, a lot of confidence, the ability to think quickly on your feet, good physical endurance due to the many long hours on the job and the many added flight stressors you may have to endure.

Men and women both make excellent flight nurses.  Male flight nurses say they're appreciated additionally for their strength when it comes to combative patients and situations where a higher level of strength is needed.  Men report that they don't get as involved with patients and the patient's family as much as women do however they say they do build rapport. 

The flight nurses say they like a balanced team of both men and women flight nurses. And it appears that flight nurses tend to be more aggressive by nature.

There is usually no doctor on the flight although one is available by radio or satellite so you'll need to be able to make quick decisions and essentially be the doctor on the flight.

Flight Nurse Experience

Besides education and training, requirements for flight nurses include experience in an intensive care unit (ICU), cardiac care unit (CCU), acute care settings, trauma centers, or emergency room experience, etc. If you've worked in these settings you may already have many of the needed designations or certifications required for flight nursing because certification in certain areas may be a requirement before getting that job or within a certain time limit after getting the job. Any type of critical care experience is especially helpful and really necessary for any kind of flight nursing career.

Flight Nurse Education and Continuing Education - Training - Schools

Flight nurse education can vary depending on your state requirements.  So check with your state or the appropriate department for flight nursing in Canada and see what the requirements are, if any.

Licensing as a registered nurse in your state will be a priority. Critical care nursing care as mentioned above, or related experience may be required.  Flight nurses are required, depending on state, to have some of the following: advanced life support certifications such as basic cardiac life support ( BCLS), advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), pediatric advanced life support (PALS), a neonatal resuscitation program or provider (NRP), pre-hospital trauma life support (PHTLS), Trauma Nursing Core Course (TNCC), transport nurse advanced trauma (TNATC), Emergency Medical Technician- Basic (EMT-B) or Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic (EMT-P), Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN), certified flight nurse (CFN), Certified Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN) and various other related or trauma related designations and certifications.

Your state also may absolutely require you have EMT (Emergency Medical Technician or Paramedic certification as mentioned above. Each flight nurse job may require different certifications.  Some or many of these certifications you may already have just from working in local hospitals or trauma centers.

You may have taken additional education, training or classes that may be helpful such as intra-aortic balloon pump classes. Knowing a few flight nurses or flight nurse mentors is extremely helpful and worth the hunt to find them to learn a lot of inside tips. Continuing education is important to keep up with patient care trends and going to related health and medical national and regional conventions, conferences, seminars and workshops. CE classes are offered online and are readily accepted by employers.

Flight Nursing School

For one example of an existing program for more specialized training, the National Flight Nurse Academy at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio offers flight nurse training on campus, along with an acute care nurse practitioner master's program.

Flight Nurse Salary

Flight nurse pay scale and flight nurse salaries are high due to the educational and experience required along with the potential risks and demands of flight nursing.  Salaries are dependent on many factors and there is no set salary range or rate of pay.  It is solely up to the discretion of the employer, but they are far above the typical hospital salary for a registered nurse, so income is high - pay is great!

Flight Nurse Employment Opportunities - Job Openings - Medical Flight careers

The best way to find a job in flight nursing or flight nurse job openings is to contact your local air medical transport services or air ambulance services and find out if they're hiring or will hire you based on your current education and experience.  Have your resume ready to discuss and include every related class, program, course, workshop, designation/certification, and all of your qualifications, etc.

If your hospital has a helipad they may hire their own flight nurses.  You can check with the head flight nurse is each of these services or at your local hospital. The large airlines often hire flight nurses to care for passengers that need special medical attention-- this is usually done with advance notice so you have the equipment and supplies and the patient's chart handy.

Traveling nurse networks may also hire flight nurses for specific patients although this would probably not be full time work and would only be on a part time basis and may be dependent on how your geographic location meets the patient's location so this would be more of a long shot for full time work or regular jobs.

Flight Nurse Questions We're Asked

The two most common questions we're asked are: how much money does a flight nurse make and how to become a flight nurse. The questions are answered or explained on this page. 

Flight Nurse Professional Organizations

There are several professional groups of interest to flight nurses, many of which offer classes without having to join the organization. For example the Air Surface Transport Nurses Association (ASTNA), the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACCN), Emergency Nurses Association (ENA), and the Association of Air Medical Services (AAMS) all located in the United States.

So if you're thinking about becoming a flight nurse and want a flight nursing job, you've picked a great and rewarding profession. Flight nurse jobs are becoming more and more available in the job marketplace every day.

Flight Nurse Jobs