International Transport Nurse
What happens if you get sick or injured abroad? We discuss international medical travel and how an international transport nurse can help!
The Flying Angels Make Medical Flights a Breeze
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What are Medical Flights?
Medical flights help you and your families travel safely after someone is hospitalized or may have limited mobility. Medical air travel arrangements can be scheduled with a flight coordinator who should be an RN with emergency and critical care experience. Registered nurses with extensive Critical Care/Emergency experience accompany you during travel from beginning to end, bedside to bedside.
How Does a Flight Coordinator Help?
They differ from emergency flights, in which patients are flown directly to a hospital by plane or helicopter.
Medical flights and medical travel are popular because they allow those with debilitating conditions, disorders, disabilities or injuries to have the comfort and security of a flight nurse accompanying them through the airport and during their flight.
How to Schedule Medical Travel
Flight nurses typically work with an agency such as Flying Angels that also employs an RN Flight Coordinator. They handle all the advance planning for medical travel, coordinating with airports, airlines, ground transportation and hotels.
Examples of Why People Need Medical Flights
The reason for seeking medical flights or medical travel differ by the individual. When using medical transport, patients have made the decision that they want support during their trip from a trained, qualified and experienced nurse.
In many cases, the patients are older travelers with a chronic condition. They could be visiting relatives, going on a family vacation to a distant location or relocating to a new home to be closer to family.
Whatever the case, medical flights provide you with the support you need. For example, airport personnel is contacted in advance so they know when you’re arriving. The flight nurse goes through TSA with you and works to make sure any medical equipment (such as a wheelchair or medications) are carried on properly. TSA notification cards can help to expedite the security checkpoint process in several ways as well as TSA PreCheck™.
What is a TSA Notification Card?
The flight nurse helps you board the flight in advance to ensure you’re not waiting in lines or accidentally bumped into by another traveler. Your flight coordinator would have already chosen the best seat assignment for your situation and has arranged to have all the medication and supplies you need for the flight. RN flight nurses are experts at high-altitude healthcare which can also be referred to as aviation physiology. Medical flights and medical travel provide security and comfort to those who decide to work with a professional non-emergency medical transportation company.
Medical Emergency Flights
Medical emergency flights are sometimes referred to as medical flights, but the difference is the “emergency” part.
Patients on an emergency medical flight are usually being taken from the scene of an accident or a natural disaster to a hospital. Emergency personnel provides medical care during the flight that focuses on preserving life until they can get to an intensive care unit. So, while the term medical flight might sometimes be used to refer to emergency flights, it typically refers to non-emergency medical transport. It’s a way for people to have peace of mind during their flight, knowing they will arrive safely and have help if any type of emergency does arise.
RN Flight Coordinator
RN Flight Coordinators simplify the medical travel process. Find out how Flying Angels provides certified & professional assisted flight travel now!
How Much Does An Airline Nurse Make?
An airline nurse provides care for patients during every phase of air transportation. While salaries for the position vary based on many factors, including years of experience and level of education, the average salary for airline nurses across the United States is $82,207 according to Salary.com.
Across the country, airline nurses typically have salaries that range between $73,000 and $92,000. However, it is often found that airline nurses or associated medical transport professionals are paid on a per diem basis vs. a salary.
What An Airline Nurse Does
In many ways, the job of an airline nurse mirrors that of an emergency room nurse.
Nurses who work in an ER must manage diverse types of patients suffering from a wide variety of illness and injuries. They are trained to make fast, smart decisions in an often-frenetic environment.
Many airline nurses have years of experience working in an emergency room. The skills gained there help them better perform their job as an airline nurse.
An airline nurse has many responsibilities. They assess a patient’s condition before traveling. Then, they develop a transport plan to get the patient to their destination safely. They also work with airline personnel to make the trip through the airport as easy as possible. They may also coordinate ground transportation on both ends of the trip.
Most importantly, they are specially trained to provide quality care to patients during the flight. They have expertise in the details of providing medical care while thousands of feet in the air.
An airline nurse can work in emergency situations. However, many also work with patients who are ill or have had injuries but must still take a flight. Others also work with older or chronically ill patients who require professional medical care while taking a flight.
Salary Differences By Region
Location is a key component of salary in all professions. The online salary aggregator site Salary.com allows you to look at places where some of the highest salaries are available for an airline nurse. As with most professions, the highest salaries are in California and the Northeast.
Some of the highest salaries are in counties that include the following cities:
- San Francisco ($100,525)
- San Jose ($99,735)
- New York City ($99,471)
- Boston ($93,911)
- Los Angeles ($92,411)
Others area where salaries are above average include Chicago, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Seattle, and Miami.
Many factors other than location play a role in salary. They include years of experience in both emergency rooms and as an airline nurse, Also, the level of college degree attained and certifications earned play a role. Higher salaries also are typically given for positions in management.
Growth in the field continues as more people become aware of the benefits of medical transport service. For nurses, it offers an exciting opportunity outside the typical environments of a hospital, physician’s office or long-term care home.