John McIntosh

For the last couple of years, I've been working abroad as a critical care flight nurse for a private company that provides medical and trauma evacuations from austere environments. Whilst relatively new to this field, I feel like it's a good fit for me with my background, and I look forward to finding out where it takes me.

Previous work experience

I spent almost 10 years in the British Army which was a particularly useful experience for acquiring exposure to many different areas of nursing, both in the UK and abroad. Examples include medical and surgical wards, primary care and rehabilitation as well as lots of time spent working in various different intensive care units all over the UK. After the Army I then spent a couple of years working in the ED and in ICUs and I have volunteered a fair amount of my time over the years working in refugee camps across Europe.

How did I get into flight nursing?

The seed may have been planted following my own evacuation from the French Alps a few years back following quite a serious polytrauma accident. Little compares to that feeling of being 'brought home' and so to now be the one doing the evacuating fills me with that extra sense of purpose.

Education

The main ones being:

• A graduate certificate in Acute Clinical Practice (Intensive care).
• A degree in foreign languages.
• All the main hospital and pre-hospital life support and trauma qualification career courses.

What do I enjoy most about being a flight nurse?

There are many things of course, but if I was to pick just one for now, I would say being able to use my training as an Intensive Care Nurse outside of the hospital in a completely different set of circumstances.

What were my most challenging repatriations?

Not so much a repatriation as an evacuation. I was working in a remote refugee camp with a medical colleague who suffered the most severe anaphylactic reaction I've witnessed. With zero help to hand and nobody we could turn to, we weren't entirely sure we would make it. Luckily, he's still here to tell the tale.

What important character traits are needed as a flight nurse?

Having a solid base and training behind you is what will give you the confidence to know you're up to the job.

Top Tips

For top tips speak to people who are where you want to be and learn from them. A few questions to them now, at the beginning of this career, could just give you the direction that you need and save an awful lot of time in the long run.