Flight nurse

The critical care experience is transferred over to a flight nurse with impacting factors such as altitude and changes in pressure, gravitational forces, and weather (Mazur, R., 2018).

The next step in progressing in this role is to obtain an Advanced Transport Certification including the CFRN and CTRN (ACCT,2 020).

Each state and each country has its own scope of practice for the critical care transporter, or flight nurse.

Based on skills that the nurse has trained in, they may perform tasks such as intubation, thoracostomy with or without mechanical ventilation, chest tube placement, management of cardiovascular devices such as Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) or Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs), in-flight ultrasound, and initiation of pharmacological interventions (ACC T, 2020).

These nurses possess a wide scope of practice that allows them to care for these patients in a variety of settings.

The flight nurse plays a critical role in the rescues of individuals who need fast, and otherwise inaccessible transport to receive emergency care.

The services that they provide expand the reach of hospitals and allow care to take place in rural, desert, or otherwise unreachable locations , including mountains, islands, etc.

Therefore, the flight nurse expands access to all community regions in critical care situations.

[3] In the United States, there are approximately 550,000 people who require emergency or standard medical transport every year.