USAF Flight nurses??

[Natef26]

am about to graduate with my B.S. in Nursing in May and I am also enlisted in the USAF Reserve. Are there any AF flight nurses out there? My unit might be getting an aeromedical evac unit in 2008 and I would like to get a commission and do that. My plan when I graduate is to work in ICU on the civilian side so that I have a year of experience before applying to do this. In the meantime I do plan on trying to get a commisison as a RN at my reserve unit.

Would 1 year of ICU nursing be enough for the USAF to take me as a flight nurse?

Thanks for any and all advice!

If you have any cool flight nursing stories to share please do!

 

[IFollowRoads]

I'd apply as soon as you get your degree. With two wars going I think they'd be all over you. Plus by the time you finish the process you'd have a year in ICU under your belt anyway.

Thank you for being willing to serve

 

[Andy]

My wife's an AF (active duty, now reserve) ICU nurse.
She was looking at getting CCATT (critical care aeromedical transport team) qualified, but hasn't done that yet.
If you stay in the reserves, they should send you to that course. In the reserves, it's usually a question of having open slots vice hands on experience.

 

[skykidjc]

i am a flight nurse for a rotor wing and Fixed wing program out of Boston.. I am familure with AF Flight nursing as several of my friends do it as well as I looked into it at one point.. It is very different from civilian flight nursing as the normal patient your flying are not too sick.. anyone who is sick that requires transport is flown by a CCAT team. as for the medical side, flight nurses usually are not well clinically prepared (med surg, pedi, psych ect..).. however, if you soley want to fly, then this is not a bad gig.. just the nursing side of it would kinda stink..
The CCAT teams are a good way to go if you want to focus on good sick patients, however they are not rated positions.. therefor they are limited to duty times, flight hours ect.. also, pay is also different from rated flight nurses because of this..


anywho, good luck with it. i have to cut this short, off to work.. best of luck with nursing and all and if you have any more questions, let me know..


talk soon

jc

 

[CheyDogFlies]

I may be speaking a bit beyond my range of knowledge here, but here goes...

I would imagine that an O- in the Reserves can stay a Flight Nurse pretty much for the duration of their time.

I do know that if you are going to commission into Active Duty that as an O- your flight assignment is a "one time good deal" and you can expect not to actually fly for more than one assignment. But as an E- in the Active Duty, you can maintain a flying assignment for much longer. I never saw a Reserve CCAT crew (and I'm still doing a limited amount of medevac today), but I would imagine there must be some on Reserve somewhere...

The pay difference as you know of course is huge, and it would be difficult to stay an E- if they want to hand you an O- after you get your BS! I have zero knowledge of how you commission from E- to O- in the Reserves, so I am probably not being much help here...

Anyway, my "credentials" on this subject are as flying the now mostly retired USAF C-9 from 1999 to 2002.

 

[skykidjc]

i hear ya about the pay difference.. it probably is not too comparable. as for the best way to transition from the enlisted to officer.. well as a Nurse you have the ability to receive a direct commission. This is a ttype of commission which is limited to Doctors, nurses, chaplins, lawyers and other pretty hard to get people with specific training. You are commisioned and then attend an abreviated version of OTS called COTS (commissioned Officer Training school.) This is held at Maxwell AFB in AL and is a two week course which basically teaches you how to wear the uniform, basic military customs and court.. as well as a general indoc to the AF (or reserves). I am sure this will be extremely easy for yuo as you have already completed AF Basic training which is much more challanging.
After this, you would be assigned to an AF reserve unit and hopefully a flight slot. From there on, your on auto pilot.. as with all AF Officer careers, you may not fly the whole time, however unlike other rated positions which usualy only fly for a few years then get tracked into other roles, you will be able to stay flying longer due to the limited supply of RN's and the overwhelming demands..

Like i said, its a good way to get into a cool job.. That being said, as a civilian flight nurse with knowledge of the military medevac system, I am not impressed with the clinical preperation or the clinical abilitites of the flight nurses out there.. unless there civilian jobs are in critical care units or high volume trauma centers, u will probably be bored with the actual nursing.. That being said, even the "stable walking talkines" can develop problems at FL340 or so...

best of luck with this and hope it works well for ya..

fly safe

j