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Have you ever wondered what a flight paramedic does? Flight paramedics are individuals that are employed in the aero-medicine field. They work for air medical transport or air ambulance companies. They’re primary duty is to transport ill or injured patients from one medical facility to another. Rotary aircraft are primarily used for emergency transports of patients from an accident scene to a hospital. Fixed wing aircraft are used for transporting more stable patients from one medical facility to another that may be long distances from one another. Typically flight paramedics work closely with flight nurses, as a team. Flight paramedics are responsible for providing care during the air medical transport. How does a person become a flight paramedic? Before someone can become a flight they must first have experience as a ground paramedic. Typically flight paramedics have at least five years of experience as a ground paramedic working for a fire department. They then must go through additional training and certifications programs to be able to be qualified to work as a flight paramedic. Air ambulance companies and healthcare facilities only hire qualified, highly experience paramedics to work as flight paramedics. What do flight paramedics do on a medical transport? Some flight paramedics are employed by hospitals. Their responsibility is to transport patients that are in an emergent circumstance. This might include victims of a severe automobile accident that need to be immediately transported to the hospital and time is of the essence. An air ambulance helicopter with flight paramedics onboard would typically be used in this case. On these types of flights the flight paramedic must be highly trained in emergency medicine. They may be dealing with patients that have experienced major trauma. They would be working alongside a flight nurse to ensure the patient has good care helping to make the patient stable until they arrive at the medical facility. The other type of scenario is when a flight paramedic works for a long range air ambulance carrier. In this role the flight paramedic isn’t dealing with an emergent situation but with a stable patient that needs to be transported from one medical facility to another. In both cases the flight paramedic must be able to administer drugs, oxygen, monitor the patient’s vital signs and be able to start an IV. They must be able to uses ventilators and other high tech medical equipment. Flight paramedics play a very important role on an air ambulance and are a valuable part of an air medical crew. To learn more about the roles of flight paramedics and nurses on air medical jets, visit Angel MedFlight at www.angelmedflight.com/medical-flight-training.html
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flight paramedics, medical flight team, air medical services,
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