Our Staff

Life Flight's scope of practice is very simple: we will transport any critically ill patient that needs transport, regardless of age. To meet this challenge, our Critical Care Transport Nurses are highly experienced in critical care and undergo an intense, thorough competency-based orientation which is specific for the transport arena. Specific requirements include BCLS, ACLS, PALS, NRP, PHTLS, TNCC and EMT certifications.

 

Many of our staff hold certifications in Emergency Nursing (CEN), Critical Care Nursing (CCRN) or Flight Nursing (CFRN). The teams nursing practice is expanded by the North Carolina Board of Nursing to include advanced invasive and surgical skills to include intubation, Cook Catheter placement, Femoral Line Placement, etc.

Also, several of the team members are cross-trained as Neonatal Specialists who are qualified to care for the newborn. All Transport nurses are trained to care for the patient ages 31 days to adult.

 

The neonatal Specialist Nurse for the Duke Team receive didactic training in pathophysiology of the newborn and disease processes unique to their population. Time is spent with a Nurse Practitioner in the Neonatal ICU to obtain hands-on experience in performing skills used in transport, (i.e. Umbilical Arterial and Venous catheterization and intubations.)

EMTs are the crucial backbone of our ground fleet. They provide the safe transport of our ground patients to and from their destinations. Most have a background in either Fire or EMS and bring that valuable experience with them to Life Flight. Many are Paramedic level EMTs with some belonging to the National Registry of EMTs. 

 

Our EMTs are responsible for performing daily safety checks of our ground ambulances to ensure their safe operation.  In addition to driving, they also perform a valuable role in assisting the nurses with the packaging, loading, and unloading of our patients.

 

In cases of inclement weather, our EMTs perform the valuable task of providing safe and timely transport of our more critically ill patient population, including ground transport of critical neonates and cardiac patients requiring additional specialized equipment and personnel that the aircraft is unable to transport.  

 

Aviation expertise is contracted to Life Flight through Air Methods Corporation. The Air Methods team consists of an aviation site manager, six pilots, and three mechanics. Duke requires Life Flight pilots to have a minimum of 2000 hours of flight experience, instrument flight rating, and qualified to operate all Duke-based aircraft.

 

All pilots have previous military experience with the average pilot having in excess of 6000 flight hours. Initial aircraft training for the Life Flight program is received through a FAA certified company school at Air Methods Corporation.

 

Each pilot receives bi-monthly instrument flight training and quarterly Inadvertent Instrument Meteorological conditions flight training. Each pilot is flight checked semiannually for instrument capability and annually in each aircraft for aircraft systems, company policy, and Federal Aviation Rules knowledge. The pilots must also complete quarterly 25 hours of Computer Training Institutes Aviation Syllabus which focuses on all aspects of the aviation profession.

The Air Methods Corporations Maintenance Team at Duke Life Flight is comprised of a Lead Mechanic and two Line Mechanics. All of the mechanics are licensed and certified by the FAA, with over 80 years of combined experience with helicopters. Maintenance personnel have been factory trained by American Eurocopter specifically for the EC-135 T2+. They return periodically for training and updates on the various aircraft components.

 

The mechanics inspect each helicopter daily, and service the aircraft as required before the aircraft is released for use by Duke Life Flight. Periodic maintenance is completed at the Hangar at Burlington airport, a 10 minute flight from Duke Hospital. The major inspections and maintenance is performed at the Air Method's regional facility in Rocky Mount, NC.

Communications is the nerve center of Duke Life Flight. This 24 hour center is staffed by 8 National Association of Air Medical Communication Specialists (NAACS) certified air medical communications specialists (ACS), which are responsible for processing all transport requests for the Duke Health System. These requests may be from within the Duke Health System, EMS agencies in North Carolina and Virginia, other hospitals all over the world, and number over 12,000 calls per year.

 

The communications center is responsible for handling many types of calls such as acute heart attacks, scene trauma, sick neonates, pediatric patient’s, expectant mothers and basic life support (BLS) transports. The communications center also coordinates fixed wing transports within the United States and internationally.

 

One of the more important jobs of the communications center is to monitor both air and ground vehicles using a sophisticated tracking program which utilizes satellite positioning. At any one time, the ACS staff have the capability to track two Life Flight aircraft, four ground units, and up to five mutual aide aircraft.

 

The communication staff is also responsible for managing the Duke Transfer Center and Bed Control after regular business hours, making them responsible for processing calls from outside physicians wishing to transfer their patient’s to Duke.