# flight medic



## nevets_eural (Aug 16, 2011)

i remember my first day of basic class and it seamed as if everyone said that their future goal was to be flight( except me, i just wanted to get through basic first, funny how most of those flight hopefulls failed) anyway just wondering what a realistic chance there is at doing the whole flight thing, excluding the weight requirement.. ballpark on exp. and what not


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## abckidsmom (Aug 16, 2011)

The services around here will hire anyone anymore.  I think if you are willing to meet the minimum requirements, are a strong medic (in other people's opinions too) and apply to plenty of places, you'll get hired. 

I am not willing to do it.  Too much risk for patients who don't need it, and for all the fun work to be done prior to my arrival.


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## usafmedic45 (Aug 16, 2011)

You have a 50/50 chance of being involved in a serious crash within a twenty year career in HEMS.  I have lost more friends from medical helicopter crashes than I have from car accidents.  There is little to no evidence that it offers any benefit in terms of scene response and it's all about profit.  

If you absolutely must fly, do it on a fixed wing service.  Your chances of dying in the line of "duty" are much, much lower.


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## FlightMedicHunter (Aug 16, 2011)

usafmedic45 said:


> You have a 50/50 chance of being involved in a serious crash within a twenty year career in HEMS.  I have lost more friends from medical helicopter crashes than I have from car accidents.  There is little to no evidence that it offers any benefit in terms of scene response and it's all about profit.
> 
> If you absolutely must fly, do it on a fixed wing service.  Your chances of dying in the line of "duty" are much, much lower.



 Well said, my man


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## usafmedic45 (Aug 16, 2011)

BTW, if you want to really know the specifics on HEMS safety, feel free to ask anything that comes to mind.  The career path I am on now is focused on aviation safety.


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## usalsfyre (Aug 16, 2011)

Your going to be competing against a very large pool of qualified people for very few spots. As above, it's not all roses and cool stuff, often times your basically a taxi service. If you look at 2008 it can be exceptionally dangerous. 

Unless you have the talent, skill, ability to be in the top say 20% of paramedics, a long-term patient care mindset, the willingness to develop yourself and an understanding that you may lose your job by standing up to situations that are dangerous it's not worth applying.


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## nevets_eural (Aug 16, 2011)

usalsfyre said:


> Your going to be competing against a very large pool of qualified people for very few spots. As above, it's not all roses and cool stuff, often times your basically a taxi service. If you look at 2008 it can be exceptionally dangerous.
> 
> Unless you have the talent, skill, ability to be in the top say 20% of paramedics, a long-term patient care mindset, the willingness to develop yourself and an understanding that you may lose your job by standing up to situations that are dangerous it's not worth applying.



thats what my understanding was that there were probably countless medics applying and only a few spots, its deffinity an intrest later in my career but at the moment i just have to take one step at a time,  reason for topic was just some insite of how difficult it was to get into after remembering my classmates hopes of becoming, good goal for them to set but still got to take baby steps at first ....... thanks guys


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## usafmedic45 (Aug 17, 2011)

> its deffinity an intrest later in my career but at the moment i just have to take one step at a time, reason for topic was just some insite of how difficult it was to get into after remembering my classmates hopes of becoming, good goal for them to set but still got to take baby steps at first .......



A good first step would be working on your grammar, punctuation and spelling.  Secondly, "later in your career" is likely to be ten to fifteen years down the line and by that time hopefully the aeromedical business as we know it now will have ceased to exist leaving even fewer positions for folks like yourself to squabble over.  My last bits of advice if you really want to pursue this is to gain a lot of high-volume ALS service experience (particularly with a service that does critical care transfers) and to get your license as either a registered nurse, respiratory therapist or even as a physician assistant.


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## AlphaButch (Aug 17, 2011)

usafmedic45 said:


> A good first step would be working on your grammar, punctuation and spelling.  Secondly, "later in your career" is likely to be ten to fifteen years down the line and by that time hopefully the aeromedical business as we know it now will have ceased to exist leaving even fewer positions for folks like yourself to squabble over.  My last bits of advice if you really want to pursue this is to gain a lot of high-volume ALS service experience (particularly with a service that does critical care transfers) and to get your license as either a registered nurse, respiratory therapist or even as a physician assistant.



+1 the last part. Especially here in Texas. You'll have a chance as an EMT-P + something else (RN, PA, RT, etc). Also get your flight and critical care certifications. If you're looking for a place to start, my suggestion would be to get into a 911 service, then get more schooling. Eventually you'll either get into a flight med program or settle down into something else you enjoy.


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## ArcticKat (Aug 17, 2011)

The only difference between a flight medic and a ground medic is the mode of transport.  An ambulance is an ambulance is an ambulance, land, sea, or air.


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## Anjel (Aug 17, 2011)

Ha kinda funny....

I told my partner today I was gonna be a flight medic. 

He laughed at me and I changed my mind when I saw how dangerous it was.


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## truetiger (Aug 17, 2011)

A flight medic (or any other crew member) that flies an average of 20 hours over 20 years has a 40% chance of being involved in a fatal crash...not worth it.


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## jjesusfreak01 (Aug 17, 2011)

truetiger said:


> A flight medic (or any other crew member) that flies an average of 20 hours over 20 years has a 40% chance of being involved in a fatal crash...not worth it.



Needs citation...


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## fortsmithman (Aug 17, 2011)

Here in the NWT we don't have HEMS we only have fixed wing air ambulance.


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## Stingray91 (Aug 17, 2011)

I had a quick conversation with a pilot of an air ambulance company from Pittsburgh. Met him in the elevator (in Philly) while I was going to school in the morning. He asked if I liked the EMT school (since I was in uniform), then we talked about how much he traveled and all that fun stuff. He said they're always hiring (idk if this is true or not, maybe he was still in zombie mode at 7:30am) and they travel around so much (last week he was in Denver). The hotels they stay at are nice though.


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## usafmedic45 (Aug 18, 2011)

jjesusfreak01 said:


> Needs citation...



If memory serves (and I have yet to have any caffeine this morning so I am not firing on all cylinders just yet) I believe it came from a study done by one of my friends, Guohua Li, and several colleagues.

Baker SP, Grabowski JG, Dodd RS, Shanahan DF, Lamb MW, Li GH.EMS helicopter crashes: what influences fatal outcome?  Ann Emerg Med. 2006 Apr;47(4):351-6. Epub 2006 Jan 19.


However, I believe there is another study out there that came to roughly the same conclusion.


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## marshmallow22 (Aug 18, 2011)

Being a flight medic can be great for learning critical care and trauma.  There are a lot of things you will see an ICU, and really learn how to package that patient for a small helicopter.   I think you can learn a lot more logistics and get a strong sense of safety and awareness while you are flying in an aircraft (especially rotor  Also, you really learn a lot about aviation and can take away valuable life lessons from your pilots ( a lot of which have flown and served our country in many deployments) that you may not get in too many other places.

With that said, the downfalls are the pay (usually very low, especially for the Certs/Licenses and CE required), and the experience needed to get the job.  The  HEMS industry has become very competitive and thus is taking more chances to gain business resulting in an increased # of crashes or mishaps year after year.  A lot of times what you'll see is people that do it for the experience, but once the novelty of flying wears off, they move on to something else.  I was a flight medic (rotor) for 5 years before I decided to go back to the ground and work for a 3rd service agency.  I don't want to discourage you, but rather give you some things to think about.


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## ArtEry (Aug 18, 2011)

*blew my mind*

thanks to all the experienced peeps that posted. i was really looking into what certs, training, experience, etc. was needed for flight medic. but after reading all this, im good! lol! left the army so i can see my kids grow up, not gonna trade that in to be an air taxi.


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