Top 12 Flight Nurse Skills to Put on Your Resume

In the unforgiving world of medical air transport, flight nurses stand at the hinge point between crisis and recovery. Clinical precision, aviation-savvy judgment, and calm under rotors—those are the hallmarks. Spotlighting the right skills on your resume signals you can handle motion, noise, altitude, and time pressure without losing the thread of care.

Flight Nurse Skills

1. ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support)
2. PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support)
3. BLS (Basic Life Support)
4. Critical Care
5. Emergency Medicine
6. Flight Safety
7. Ventilator Management
8. Hemodynamic Monitoring
9. IV Insertion
10. Triage
11. Pharmacology
12. Communication

1. ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support)

ACLS covers advanced interventions for cardiac arrest, acute coronary syndromes, stroke, and peri-arrest rhythms—airway management, rhythm recognition, defibrillation, cardioversion, pacing, and timed medication decisions. In the aircraft, these algorithms become muscle memory under noise, vibration, and limited space.

Why It's Important

ACLS gives a Flight Nurse the framework to recognize and treat lethal rhythms quickly during transport, bridging patients safely to definitive care when seconds and altitude conspire.

How to Improve ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support) Skills

1. Refresh often with current AHA guidelines and focused updates (2020 guidelines with 2023 updates remain the reference). Protocol drift is real—fight it.
2. Run high-fidelity simulations that mimic cabin constraints: dim light, limited reach, headset comms, turbulence.
3. Drill closed-loop communication and role clarity with your crew. Short, crisp, confirmed.
4. Practice rapid drug preparation using transport kits and weight-based charts you actually fly with.
5. Use post-mission debriefs to dissect timing, rhythm interpretation, and shock/medication intervals.
6. Keep a compact reference card with dose, sequence, and reversible causes adapted to your program.
7. Maintain fitness and stress-management habits so compressions and critical thinking don’t degrade at altitude.

Consistency turns ACLS from a checklist into a reflex that holds up in the air.

How to Display ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support) Skills on Your Resume

2. PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support)

PALS equips clinicians to rapidly assess, stabilize, and resuscitate infants and children using age-appropriate airway, breathing, circulation, and rhythm algorithms—plus teamwork tuned to pediatric physiology.

Why It's Important

Kids compensate until they don’t. PALS helps a Flight Nurse catch the slide early, act decisively, and tailor interventions to size and stage during transport.

How to Improve PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) Skills

1. Revisit PALS algorithms regularly; align with the latest AHA pediatric updates and your medical director’s protocols.
2. Simulate pediatric scenarios with realistic manikins—airway sizes, IO access, tiny doses, the works.
3. Pre-calc weight-based dosing and tape-based equipment selection; build pediatric grab-and-go cards for flight bags.
4. Train shoulder-to-shoulder with pediatric specialists when possible; cross-pollinate tips for airway, bronchiolitis, seizure, trauma.
5. Practice family communication in chaos—brief, honest, steady.
6. Run after-action reviews on every pediatric call; small tweaks save time later.

How to Display PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) Skills on Your Resume

3. BLS (Basic Life Support)

BLS is the backbone—high-quality CPR, early defibrillation, airway support—executed relentlessly and correctly even before advanced tools arrive.

Why It's Important

Transport is a moving puzzle. Rock-solid BLS keeps perfusion going when space is tight and advanced interventions are still loading.

How to Improve BLS (Basic Life Support) Skills

1. Follow current AHA BLS standards and refresh frequently; compression depth, rate, recoil, and minimal pauses matter.
2. Train with the monitor/defibrillator you fly. Know pads, energy settings, and metronomes by touch.
3. Rehearse two- and three-person resuscitation choreography inside your aircraft configuration.
4. Use objective feedback devices during practice to hardwire quality metrics.
5. Debrief resuscitations using data from your defibrillator logs; let metrics guide improvement.
6. Condition physically so compressions stay effective through long evolutions.

How to Display BLS (Basic Life Support) Skills on Your Resume

4. Critical Care

Flight critical care blends ICU-level management with the constraints of aviation: ventilators, vasoactive infusions, sedation, analgesia, neuro and trauma stabilization, all while anticipating altitude effects and limited resources.

Why It's Important

Patients don’t pause being sick because they’re airborne. Critical care skills keep them stable across handoffs, weather, and distance.

How to Improve Critical Care Skills

1. Pursue focused flight and transport critical care education through organizations like ASTNA, FlightBridgeED, and IAFCCP.
2. Train with the exact pumps, vents, and monitors you deploy. Standardize setup. Label lines. Prevent mix-ups.
3. Build crisp handoff habits using SBAR or equivalent; seamless continuity beats heroics.

How to Display Critical Care Skills on Your Resume

5. Emergency Medicine

Emergency medicine in the aircraft means rapid assessment, decisive interventions, and constant reevaluation—prehospital thinking with hospital-grade expectations.

Why It's Important

When the clock is loud, early action changes trajectory: airway now, bleed now, shock now. Transport amplifies that urgency.

How to Improve Emergency Medicine Skills

1. Keep current with transport, trauma, and resuscitation literature and protocols; tap ASTNA and IAFCCP resources.
2. Leverage telemedical consults and modern monitors to sharpen diagnostics in-flight.
3. Practice Crew Resource Management to streamline communication with pilots, partners, and receiving teams.
4. Invest in leadership and followership training; fluid roles, one mission.
5. Anchor care in evidence; review new studies and adapt protocols with your medical director.
6. Run quality-improvement cycles on cases—near-misses teach loudly; IHI-style tools translate well to flight programs.

How to Display Emergency Medicine Skills on Your Resume

6. Flight Safety

Flight safety weaves clinical care into aviation reality: risk assessment, sterile cockpit discipline, weight-and-balance awareness, PPE, and equipment security—every mission, every time.

Why It's Important

Safe crews finish the shift and deliver patients intact. That’s the standard.

How to Improve Flight Safety Skills

1. Engage with your program’s safety management system; contribute hazards, not just fixes. FAA Safety Team concepts apply.
2. Run scenario-based emergency drills (rapid egress, smoke, hard landings) and medical simulations together.
3. Use checklists religiously—for aircraft entry/exit, equipment, meds, and patient securement. No step left to memory.
4. Practice concise radio and intercom habits. CRM principles reduce errors.
5. Inspect gear before lift and after landing. Tie-downs tight, lines traced, sharps contained.
6. Maintain fitness, hydration, and fatigue management. Human factors are safety factors.
7. Know the regulatory backdrop: FAA and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) guidance; align with your operator’s policies.

How to Display Flight Safety Skills on Your Resume

7. Ventilator Management

Vent management in flight means tailoring modes, PEEP, FiO2, and alarms to altitude, gas laws, and patient pathology—then watching like a hawk.

Why It's Important

Altitude shifts oxygen availability and pressure dynamics. The wrong settings can snowball fast; the right ones keep CO2 and oxygenation on track.

How to Improve Ventilator Management Skills

1. Master altitude physiology (hypobaric effects, Dalton’s and Boyle’s laws) and how they alter oxygenation and volumes.
2. Standardize a preflight vent checklist: batteries, circuits, filters, backup bag, inline suction, alarm limits, spare O2.
3. Trend SpO2 and ETCO2 with context—movement artifact, perfusion limits, sedation depth.
4. Practice switching modes and adjusting settings for ARDS, COPD, asthma, TBI, and post-ROSC scenarios specific to your device.
5. Coordinate changes verbally with your partner; echo back settings before you press confirm.
6. Prepare for failure: BVM proficiency with PEEP valve, transport mask fit, and a rapid escalation plan.

How to Display Ventilator Management Skills on Your Resume

8. Hemodynamic Monitoring

Hemodynamics tracks perfusion in real time—blood pressure, heart rate, rhythm, SpO2, ETCO2, urine output, mental status, and when available, ultrasound or invasive lines—stitched together to guide therapy.

Why It's Important

Transport strips away backup. Early detection of instability—then decisive fluids, pressors, blood, or airway moves—keeps organs alive until the bay doors open.

How to Improve Hemodynamic Monitoring Skills

1. Drill rapid primary/secondary surveys that include core hemodynamic cues and red flags for shock types.
2. Get comfortable with compact transport monitors and, if your program supports it, handheld ultrasound for FAST, IVC, and cardiac views.
3. Use MAP targets, lactate trends (pre/post), and mental status as practical waypoints for titration.
4. Practice pump setup and dual-pressor titration with clear label conventions to avoid line confusion.
5. Follow evidence-based protocols approved by your medical director; refine them through QA case reviews.
6. Communicate trends out loud—shared mental models catch deterioration earlier.

How to Display Hemodynamic Monitoring Skills on Your Resume

9. IV Insertion

IV access in flight calls for precise technique, smart site selection, and contingency planning when veins hide or the aircraft won’t sit still.

Why It's Important

From analgesia to vasopressors to blood—access is the gateway. No line, no therapy.

How to Improve IV Insertion Skills

1. Revisit anatomy and physiology for vein mapping; practice under varied lighting and motion.
2. Match catheter size to the mission: large-bore for trauma/blood, longer catheters for high-movement scenarios.
3. Use ultrasound guidance when available; train to acquire and cannulate quickly.
4. Sharpen visualization and palpation skills; warm packs, gravity, and tourniquet finesse help stubborn veins.
5. Keep composure—steady hands, steady voice. Patients mirror your calm.
6. Maintain proficiency in IO insertion as your rapid backup; rehearse device-specific steps.
7. Seek peer feedback and participate in skills labs through ASTNA or your program’s education team.

How to Display IV Insertion Skills on Your Resume

10. Triage

Triage sorts the many into the manageable—assigning priority based on threat to life and resource reality, then revisiting as conditions evolve.

Why It's Important

In multi-patient scenes or limited-capacity flights, smart triage maximizes survivability and keeps the mission safe.

How to Improve Triage Skills

1. Review current triage frameworks used by your service and the Emergency Nurses Association; align with regional disaster plans.
2. Run multi-casualty simulations that stress decision speed and reassessment discipline.
3. Adopt structured mnemonics (such as MIST) for concise, repeatable handoffs.
4. Strengthen team communication with tools like TeamSTEPPS; clarity under noise saves minutes.
5. Condition for cognitive endurance—brief mindfulness drills, hydration, and rest strategies matter when chaos stretches out.

How to Display Triage Skills on Your Resume

11. Pharmacology

Pharmacology in flight means knowing indications, contraindications, kinetics, compatibilities, and dilution tricks for a tight roster of meds—then executing safely when the aircraft is moving.

Why It's Important

Correct drug, correct dose, correct timing—delivered cleanly—can flip a bad trajectory midair.

How to Improve Pharmacology Skills

1. Take transport-focused pharmacology courses from ASTNA or IAFCCP; align content with your actual formulary.
2. Build quick-reference cards for weight-based dosing, push-dose pressors, analgesia/sedation, and antiemetics.
3. Practice infusion setup and compatibility checks; use standardized line labels and Y-site plans.
4. Stay curious—scan new evidence and safety alerts; update protocols with your medical director.
5. Use simulation to rehearse high-risk sequences: RSI, mixed vasopressors, magnesium in eclampsia, calcium with hyperkalemia.

How to Display Pharmacology Skills on Your Resume

12. Communication

Communication is the invisible scaffold—patient updates, crew coordination, pilot briefings, hospital notifications—delivered clearly and confirmed.

Why It's Important

Muddled words make muddled care. Crisp messaging keeps everyone aligned and the patient safer.

How to Improve Communication Skills

1. Listen actively; confirm what you heard, especially through headsets and masks.
2. Choose plain language when speaking with patients and families; empathy first, jargon last.
3. Use SBAR for handoffs; short, structured, done.
4. Hold preflight briefs and postflight debriefs; normalize speaking up and capturing lessons.
5. Adopt technology that supports clarity—standard radio phrases, shared checklists, synchronized timestamps.

How to Display Communication Skills on Your Resume