Flight Nurse: Career, Training, & Certification

Flight Nurse

Becoming a flight nurse can be a highly rewarding career for those people who are drawn to the medical field but are looking for something a little more high-adrenaline than simply working in a general clinic drawing blood. This requires a highly refined skill set, including critical care and emergency capabilities, as well as the ability to give advanced life support. They will need to be able to keep their cool in emergency situations and under the possibility of all types of weather or uncomfortable physical environments. Flight nurses may work aboard large airplanes to accompany sick patients, or they could be sent to disaster areas along with emergency relief teams. This encompasses a wide variety of work opportunities and can be a quite exciting field for the right personality type.
 
Salary Outlook
 
The pay for a flight nurse can vary depending on employer size, years of experience, credentials, and what sort of industry the nurse is working for.
 
Average Annual Salary
$66,271
 
Salary Range
$60,272-$74,460
 
Work Environment
 
The only thing that all work environments that flight nurses may encounter have in common is that they are in the air for a good part of the time. This could include airlifting sick patients out of emergency situations on small planes or helicopters, or working for large commercial airlines to accompany sick patients onboard the flight. Most will spend some downtime at a hospital or clinical facility as well, but the majority of the work hours will be in critical care situations in the air.
 
Requirements
 
All flight nurses will at the minimum require a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing, and a few years of experience on the ground to hone their critical care skills. This is a job that requires advanced knowledge of different nursing techniques, and the completion of a Flight Nurse Training Program is required both for military or civilian duty. Specialty courses such as altitude physiology courses will be required as part of certification to be able to deal with the specific demands of the air.
 
Career Outlook
 
While it may seem daunting at first to get a foot in the door, flight nursing remains a stable work proposition. The turnover for flight nursing positions is estimated to be at less than 5% per year, meaning that a prospective must keep networking and gaining more experience on the ground before getting up there in the air. This is a field that is going nowhere, however, as flight nurses are constantly in demand both in the military and civilian arenas.
 
Professional Organizations
 
Air and Surface Transport Nurses Association
7995 East Prentice Avenue, Suite 100
Greenwood Village, CO 8011
Phone: (800) 897-6362
Fax: (303) 770-1614
www.astna.org
 
American Nurses Foundation
8515 Georgia Ave. Suite 400
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Phone: (301) 628-5227
www.anfonline.org