Do you have what it takes to become an emergency flight nurse? This exciting, engaging, rewarding career is one that requires a special kind of person to staff. If you’re considering it, you’re probably already aware of the medical training you will need to achieve a position in flight nursing, but what about your personal qualifications? Here’s what you need to know about measuring up to the title of emergency flight nurse:
Working Well Under Pressure
Perhaps no other career calls for being cool under pressure quite as much as emergency flight nursing. Think about the environment where these nurses practice:
- Emergency situations make up the bulk of their actively-engaged hours
- Travel is a constant factor, as flight nurses are never in one place for long
- You have to be able to provide life-saving, top-quality emergency medical care – even in the back of a moving vehicle, plane, or helicopter
Those factors alone make the job the kind of position that doesn’t allow for the faint at heart to make it through the application process. To thrive here, you must be able to not just perform under pressure – you have to make pressure a part of your everyday.
Compassionate, Caring, Cast-Iron Spirits
Nurses – especially emergency flight nurses – have to be some of the most multifaceted professionals in the medical field. On one hand, you must be capable of seeing anything; when you work in emergency response, you may see some of the most frightening, disgusting, or heartbreaking scenes imaginable. In all of these, you will be expected to perform, so a stainless-steel backbone is a necessity.
However, nurses must also be compassionate and understanding. Providing care to everyone from the elderly to newborn babies – and everyone in between – requires a soul that truly thrives by serving others.
Not scared? You might just have what it takes to join the ranks of flight nurses around the world who change lives every day. Talk to your local college or university of nursing about taking the necessary classes and start working toward becoming one of them yourself.