Flight Nurse

My proudest professional achievements to date is becoming a flight nurse. I never really knew how badly I wanted to do it before but now that I am doing it I can't imagine doing anything else. It is one of the most challenging and rewarding jobs I could imagine. I have the needs for immediate gratification and I get that. I enjoy the challenge of making decision that can truly make the difference of someone surviving or not and to what extent. It is rather intimidating and makes you think about a lot of things. I have learned many things since I've started: 1) Your safety comes first, then your partner/pilot, then your patient. 2) When in doubt, don't go. 3) Even if you don't follow the protocol word for word, make sure what you do is a least reasonable because we are hired to think and make educated decisions. 4) Small community hospitals can be VERY scary. I've met some great people along this journey so far. This starts with the folks I spent 10 days with in Denver to the folks I work beside every day. There are some very seriously smart people in this field and I aspire to be one of them (in about 20 years or so because I have a lot to learn!) Back in March we had to make a precautionary landing. Of course, we were patient loaded and it was a really scary situation. We ended up in a field in almost a foot of mud. Everything ended up being completely fine but things like that will definitely make you think twice. If you really love the job, you get back up on the horse. I'm glad to say I'm back up on the horse. I had a rough few days after it realizing how scary what we do actually is, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.