Flight Paramedic
Flight Paramedic
Flight paramedics fly aboard helicopters (known as Air Ambulances or Medevac), and aircraft as part of the medical team. They are often requested to form part of the air crew of the helicopter in rescue operations.
The helicopter rescue service is used where a land ambulance is unable to reach the patient, or the patient is so critically ill or injured that transportation by land ambulance would put the patient’s life in further danger or cause injuries to be exasperated by a journey in a land ambulance to the hospital for further investigation and/or treatment.
On occasion a patient may need to be transported between one hospital and another for specialist treatment, which can be time critical and will need the care and expertise of the flight paramedic.
Occasionally a flight paramedic may be required to escort a donated organ and/or tissue for transplantation as donated organs and/or tissue has a limited useful timeline, therefore transportation is time critical. Aircraft are often used as they are able to cover long distances in a shorter time.
Flight paramedics often have to deal with the most critically ill or critically injured patients, these patients are often considered to be time critical meaning if they don’t receive treatment within a very short space of time they are likely to die or suffer severe complications.
The inside of an air ambulance resembles a mini intensive care unit, with all the equipment the paramedic is likely to need in flight.
The patient can expect to receive the very best of pre-hospital treatment, just as would be given by the crew of a traditional land ambulance.
Flight paramedics can also make up the crew of special airplane flights, when it is necessary to transport a patient between hospitals or countries for further treatment.
Medical repatriation can also require the services of a flight paramedic depending on the medical needs of the patient.
Flight paramedics are usually based at an airport/airfield from which they and the aircraft are dispatched.
Special Features
Flight paramedics need to have some special features such as:
- The ability to triage multiple patients, as they are often called to incidents involving multiple patients.
- Be mentally stable, in order to deal with some of the horrific situations they will have to face.
- Able to make decisions in stressful situations, for example; – which patient gets to travel in the helicopter, there is usually only space for one patient.
Qualifications
Before training to become a flight paramedic, the applicant must meet the following criteria:
- Be a fully training and certified paramedic
- Hold a current paramedic license.
- Hold CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) certification
- Have at least 2 years’ experience working in the field
- Have at least 5 years’ experience of critical care.
The candidate will have to work to obtain certification as a Flight Paramedic (FP-C) and/or pass the Critical Care Emergency Medical Transport Program (CCEMTP). The training for a flight paramedic is very intensive, and can vary from state to state.
Certification on average costs between $175 and $330 and needs to be renewed every 4 years.
This is in addition to the normal paramedic certification which usually needs to be renewed every 2 years.
Flight paramedics are not required to hold a pilot’s license.
Additional Training
As well as the additional medical training which may be required the prospective flight paramedic will undergo training in basic flight operations. This will include:
- Crash preparedness/safety
- Crash survival
- Radio operation
- Weather/flight analysis
- Flight stressors
- Use of safety gear
- Aircraft operations of both rotary and fixed wing air craft
Additional Medical Training
Some of the additional medical training which may be required includes:
- Advanced cardiac life support
- Pediatric advanced life support
- Pre-hospital advanced support
- Basic trauma life support
- Neonatal resuscitation
This may vary according to the needs of different employers and the requirements of different states.
Patients in flight
Some patients may have a negative reaction to flying and the flight paramedic will have to be able to deal with this inflight.
In some cases a patient may need to be anaesthetized or tranquilized prior to take off, this could be for the safety of the patient or for the safety of the crew and the flight. A patient thrashing around for whatever reason could prove to be a major hazard to the safety of the flight.
Salary and Job Opportunities
The average salary for a flight paramedic is around $65,000 to $83,000 depending on location and experience.
The salary is considered by many to be relatively low. This is caused by the popularity of the job forcing the salaries down. Some employees report as many as 2,000 applications for just one vacancy. Some paramedics are so keen to work as a flight paramedic that they actually offer to work for free.
Females are becoming increasingly interested in this area of paramedic work, with more and more females training and applying for jobs as flight paramedics.
Compared to other areas of emergency medical services, posts for flight paramedics are very limited. However, there is expected to be an increase in the use of helicopters and therefore flight paramedics in the near feature, some estimate an increase of as much as 15% over the next few years.
In some states the Coast Guard employs flight paramedics as part of their rescue crew.
Being a flight paramedic is seen by some as being a very exciting and glamorous job. The truth is that the job can be extremely stressful, with very difficult decisions to be made especially, when it comes to deciding who gets to travel in the helicopter to the hospital, when there is more than one critically ill patient. There are also the problems of transporting a patient safely in adverse weather conditions, which can cause the helicopter or aircraft to behave erratically. The landing and take-off of the craft not only in adverse weather but also in restricted space can be potentially dangerous.