New member saying hello; Also a few ?s

[VFlutter]

Hey guys,

I just signed up and thought i would introduce myself. My name is Chase and im from Saint Louis, Mo but currently in Columbia, Mo for school. I have taken two years of college for pre-nursing and currently have two minors, Philosophy and psychology. I am accepted into Nursing school however i am on a waitlist until Fall 11 or Spring 12 so i decided to sign up for an EMT class this semester. I have also shadowed firefighters and am looking at as another option as well. My end goal would be to finish nursing school and become a Flight Nurse.

I have a few quick questions. If i want to be a flight nurse i says that i need to be a RN and have my EMT-B or EMT-P. When i was shadowing a fire house one of the guys told me that once i have my RN i could take a test and "cross over" and be an EMT-P RN without taking an actual EMT-P program. Is that True? if so how does that work.

Also on the Flight nurse requirements it says is need ACLS and PALS certifications. At What point should i try to do those? it looks like they are just one day or weekend classes, so is there any benefit to getting them now?

Thanks for any input.

 

[TransportJockey]

to be a flight nurse you also should be a CCRN and get your FC-RN as well. You'll get PALS and ACLS sometime after you become an RN I believe (most of our floor nurses at my old hospital had neither, it was only the ED RNs that had both. ICU nurses just had ACLS for hte most part).
It is true in some states you can bridge from RN to medic, but you'd have to ask whatever state's EMS office that question.
Also, for flight RN, they'll want you to have 3-5 years (minumum) of critical care experience, and most of the time you have to work on a med-surg/step-down floor for a few years before the hospital will let you transfer to ED or ICU

EDIT: Welcome to the forum BTW! Stay a while, there's a wealth of information here if you search around and look for it.

 

[Seaglass]

Also on the Flight nurse requirements it says is need ACLS and PALS certifications. At What point should i try to do those? it looks like they are just one day or weekend classes, so is there any benefit to getting them now?

If you don't have the background to contextualize and use what you're learning, it's often best to wait.

With any cert you get, pay attention to how often you'll need a refresher, and figure out how often those will be available. In some areas, it's a lot easier to get a cert initially than it is to renew one that's expired.