Latest / The Shift Podcast / 136. Zach's Journey To Flight

Transcript

136. Zach's Journey To Flight · The Shift Podcast

0:00
Welcome to Frontline Static. We will get to hear interviews
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with some of my clients journeys of getting into flight and how
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they utilize coaching to help them create success of getting
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hired with less confusion and more ease.
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Make your dream a reality of getting into flight.
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Listen in as you hear some of the stories of the people
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getting there and come join the flight prep group.
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Hey you guys, I'm really excited to bring you a podcast interview
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with Zach today. He just got hired into flight.
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So let's turn out, Zach, just introduce yourself to everybody
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here. Yeah, my name is Zach.
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I've been a nurse now for about 5 years.
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I just got hired with Reach in Williams, CA I'm from the
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Sacramento area. Kind of just a little back story
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for me, I pretty much always known I wanted to go into flight
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nursing since high school. That's kind of where I got
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introduced to the job. Reach actually came out to my
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high school and went to my one of my classes and did their
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little PR event. Introduced the job and
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everything. That's what started my journey
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in the medical side. So I started job shadowing in
1:03
high school and knew I wanted to go into into the emergency
1:06
department. Thought I wanted to be AER Dr.
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maybe be a flight nurse, be an ER nurse.
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Didn't really know which route I wanted to go.
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So after I went out of high school I went and got my EMT
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that summer. Started working with AMR while
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taking on my nursing Prerex. And then after about six months,
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I had transitioned to be AED tech.
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And then once I went to the ER and realized I definitely don't
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want to go into medicine, I want to be a nurse.
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And that drove me to learn more about the job of flight nursing.
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I transitioned to a level 2 trauma center.
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I was able to be involved with the flight crews, taking them
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down to from the helipad and seeing the level of care that
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they provide. And that was kind of that moment
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that made me know that I wanted to get in this job and seeing
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that that that is the job that I can actually obtain.
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So I was trying to do everything I can to get to that point.
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I went out of state to nursing school in Minnesota.
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I came back to California, got a job at a rural hospital.
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I worked on the Med surg telefloor, a small unit with
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like 25 beds, and then transitioned to their ER for
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about a year and a half. And now I've been at back at the
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level 2 trauma Center for just over 2 years now.
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And so I've been in critical care for about 3 1/2 years now
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and just got hired with Reach and I'm really looking forward
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to it. Awesome, I did not know that
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your first experience with a flight crew crew was in high
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school. Yeah, so I think this was senior
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year. I already knew about this job,
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but my mom worked in the ER at the same place I'm at for about
2:46
12-13 years at that time. And I'd already known about the
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job and known about the different levels of nursing you
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can get in or there were different roles you can get into
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in nursing. And when they came out to my
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high school, that was like the the time that I was thinking I
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wanted to go to medical school. That was my goal.
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I was kind of wishy washy between the two and when they
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came and showed me what that taught us, what the job is, kind
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of put that in the back of my head.
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And then they do the like most high schools in California, they
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do that every 15 minutes. They didn't participate.
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It was actually the CHP. So a little bit different, but
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that also is kind of eye opening.
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And then of course, once I went into the ER and I was working as
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a tech at the level 2 trauma center and going to the helipad
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all the time by myself or with a nurse and, and seeing the crew,
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helping them come into the trauma Bay and just seeing the
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handoff of care. Just a totally different realm
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of nursing that you can get into.
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I always liked the idea of EMS. I didn't want to be a paramedic,
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but I liked the idea of EMS and I also wanted to be a nurse, so
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kind of merging the two at the same time and being that higher
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level provider in the field is kind of what drove me to get
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into that role too. Yeah, it's so interesting
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because before I did flat, I didn't realize how much PR, how
4:11
much community outreach events you do.
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And we spent a lot of time at least once or twice a week at
4:18
least doing 1 PR event and like you said in California.
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And maybe you can explain to me what your experience was like
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for I think it's called Every 15 Minutes, but we used to do that
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too, where we'd go to the high schools and the high school
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would already pick out someone and we would fake, they would be
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in a fake accident and we would fly.
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We would actually put them in the helicopter and fly them.
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And I realized if I would have known about this in high school,
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I for sure would have wanted to do this job in high school.
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So what was your experience with Every 15 Minutes And and also
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now getting to be able to do this full circle because you
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will do that type of PR outreach like what is that going to be
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like for you? OK, not going to lie to that.
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Give me a little bit of goosebumps.
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Yeah. So the like I said, the every 15
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minutes at my high school they use, we use the CHP because they
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do the search and rescue for all of our county and most of this
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area of the state. But REACH does volunteer their
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time in the area. I've talked to some of the my
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now Co workers that have done a lot of PR events.
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One just did one in Roseville at a different high school.
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And I think it's very interesting because a lot of
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people don't know. They just a lot of people just
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hear the term life light. That's like the stereotypical
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career you hear about life flight, whether it's a nurse or
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a medic. And then I think every position
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is all we every call you get is always a nine on one call and
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it's a trauma patient. They don't understand the whole
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scope of what the job is. And so when they came to my high
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school, I knew somewhat what it was, but they talked about all
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the different aspects of it, how to get into it.
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I didn't know that you had to be a, an ER nurse for a certain
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length of time or an ICU nurse for a certain length of time
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before you can get into that job.
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I thought it was just paramedics that did it for the longest time
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too. So it kind of was an eye
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opening, eye opening experience hearing from them.
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But then with the every 15 minutes, it was the, it was the
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same exact thing. They had a, a script like they
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played a video of a car accident.
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They had like the local fire department come and there's a an
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accident on the side of the road right next to our high school
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with the drunk drivers. And that's pretty much the idea
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is to educate high school students on drinking and drunk
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driving. And they landed the helicopter
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at our football stadium and they took the ambulance to the
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football stadium, loaded them there, flew them to our Level 2
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trauma center. I actually, I didn't get a
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chance to participate in it, but now working in the ER, they've
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asked us to volunteer to produce the video for that.
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So I've, I've been there at the time when they have that
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happening. I was working, but they had the
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students come and be in the room and they were recording it.
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Now working in the ER so I could see that little side of it, but
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it's very interesting. I think it's it helps with the
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the community understand what not only the resources that are
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around, but what this job it entails to.
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Yeah, I love that aspect of it and especially like, I didn't
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know about it before I did it and it was very similar.
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But CHP was involved with us too.
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So they staged the accident, just like how you said, we
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landed, we picked up the quote UN quote fake patient.
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We actually put them on the helicopter and then someone
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filmed us the whole way the whole time.
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And then we dropped them off at the level 1 and they filmed us
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dropping them off and we acted like it was a real hand off.
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And then they something at the school which was like kind of
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like a funeral for them. And I watch it from start to
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finish, like after it all. And I was like, oh man, this is
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so impactful for high school students.
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And I had three kids in high school too.
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And I was like, this is so good. Like to be teaching it in this
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way. Yeah, 'cause you're with,
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you're, you're experiencing that role every day at your job, but
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you also don't see the, the other side of the job.
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You're not the patient. You're not experiencing what
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they're what they're experiencing.
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This is your, this is your job, your daily routine as a flight
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nurse being in a helicopter. Most people never have a chance
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to fly in a helicopter. And the only reason they're
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flying in it is 'cause they don't.
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This is their worst day. Quote, UN quote.
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And yeah. Yeah, it's super impactful too.
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I think something that I've really learned from the job is a
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lot of the people who die in traffic accidents are simply
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because they just didn't put on their seat belt.
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It's like cars are made so well with airbag deployment and
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seatbelts. Like, even if you're in a
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terrible car accident, you usually you not you're that
9:05
you're unscathed, but it saves your life.
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And I just remember after seeing so many car accidents, just
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telling my kids like the power of just putting on your seat
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belt and just clicking. And, you know, my son's now
9:15
living in Brazil full time and driving like they don't follow
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driving rules. And he told me I put in it my,
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they have to Uber places. It's like I put on my seat belt
9:26
everywhere. And he told me the other day on
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Monday, I told the guys that I'm with put on your seat belt.
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I have this bad feeling and they got in this huge car accident
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and there's no, there was no airbags or anything like that,
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but it saved their lives. And I'm, I'm like, that's so
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impactful to be able to tell teenagers that and show them in
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that way. Just putting on your seat belt
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is like huge. I think one other thing I
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realized by doing a ton of PR events, especially for high
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school students, is that you're just a walking PR person.
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Whether people see you in the hospital or whether you go to
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these events, like you're the person people are always going
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to look at. And I don't think people think
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about that stepping into this role.
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I know I've kind of talked about this with you guys and prepared
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you guys for that, but how are you feeling about not only being
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a flight nurse, but really being this walking person for
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everybody? Now you're going to be inundated
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with questions of people who like, what's this job?
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What is it that you do like? How do you feel about kind of
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being that walking PR person? Well, it's funny because working
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in the ER, people still have that idea of flight nurses, even
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though you're in the profession of emergency or critical care
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nursing. You see them come in like I, I
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was listening to Skylar's podcast episode a few weeks ago
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and she talked about you're the Fantastic Four walking in.
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And it's, it's honestly true because you see them and you're
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like, oh, they're, they're smart.
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They know what they're doing and you don't know what their role
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is until you really do the research.
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So when I, I've always, I actually really like the idea of
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going to PR events and stuff. I look forward to that.
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I think it'd be really fun and engaging because that's how I
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learned about this job. And I want to, I want to be able
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to spread that too. So I'd love to be able to do
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that, especially if it's my local area where this is where I
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learned about it here. 10:00-ish years later, I'm now going to be
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doing that. So I'd love to be able to do the
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same for everybody else. Yeah, I love this.
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This is going to come full circle for you.
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Yeah. For you to be able to be on the
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other side of it and experience it that way, I think that's
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going to be so awesome for you. Yeah.
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And I also look forward to doing like training events and other
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things with, with fire departments.
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I've, I know that they do a lot of scenario based things with
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law enforcement, fire, other rural areas too.
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So I think that would be really fun.
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You'll do a lot with CHP and Search and Rescue too, if
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they're in your area, because if you'll be handing off from them,
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you'll be doing that as well, which will be really cool for
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you to experience. Yeah, One thing that I wanted to
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ask you, I was thinking about this morning, what really set
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you apart with me is I remember the very first time we met, I
12:09
think it was either AQ and a session or something that I was
12:12
holding. And you're like, I'm not sure if
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I want this. Let me just think about it.
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I need to talk to my wife. I need to think about if I want
12:18
to be a part of this flight prep Academy or not.
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And I told you what I tell everybody, our brains are like,
12:24
as soon as we say, let me think about it, it keeps us from
12:27
making the decision. And that's when our brain wants
12:29
to talk ourselves out of it, when we want to step into a new
12:31
version of ourselves. But you did it.
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You're like, I hear you understand?
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Let me just talk to her and I'll get back to you.
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Most people don't get back to me because at that point they feel
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this spark, this inspiration. Yeah, I want to go for flight,
12:44
but now I have fear. Now I'm fear.
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Fearful of like stepping into a new identity, going for it and
12:50
maybe not getting it. All of those things.
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You, you DM D me back and I can't remember it was the same
12:55
day or the next day. And you're like, I'm going to go
12:57
for it. So what I wanted to ask you was
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what in that moment had you decide?
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Whereas most people pull back and they're like, I have fear of
13:08
rejection. I have fear of stepping into
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what I want now. I have fear of doing something
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new. What was it for you in that
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moment, 'cause I don't think I've ever asked you that, but
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I've wondered that that's. A That's a great question.
13:20
I think I was at that point where I had been in the ER for 2
13:25
1/2 years. I just started my.
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Now let's see. Yeah.
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I've been in the ER for 2 1/2 years.
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I've been at my current job for a year.
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And I knew that I could get to the point of flight nursing.
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To be honest, I thought I could do it myself.
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I have resources around me. I have people I already knew.
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Yeah. And in a way I think I could,
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but I, I don't think it would have been as quick or I don't
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think it'd be right now. I think I would have pushed this
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off for a long time. And at that point I might have
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let go and not been pushed to continue to pursue it.
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But at that point I was, I was thinking a lot about the
14:09
transition to flight nursing and if I could do it, I still really
14:12
wanted to do it. It's not that I didn't want to
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do it. I really wanted to.
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I guess I just didn't have that push to get into it.
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And I, I've never hired a coach before, never done therapy.
14:23
I've hadn't really looked for outside resources besides what
14:28
I've always had. And it was kind of a new realm
14:32
to do that. And I'm, I thought about it and
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I'm like, if this is going to help me get into flight nursing,
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this is what I want to do. And I, I've already been
14:40
listening to your podcast at this point.
14:43
I listened to your Instagram live videos.
14:47
And so that's why I went to one of your, I waited for one of
14:49
your free webinars first. Yeah, was seeing what it was
14:52
about and then once I learned everything about what you do and
14:58
I just talked it over with my wife just about the cost.
15:01
And then is this going to be helpful for me?
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And it if it's going to be helpful, I don't care about how
15:06
much the cost is. I'm going to pursue this.
15:08
Yeah. And so that's kind of what made
15:10
my decision. I love that.
15:12
I love that I can finally answer ask you that too, because I was
15:15
thinking about that the other day.
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What I was thinking with that is I really believe to get to
15:23
really big goals and things that we really dream about and that
15:25
we really want or that we've been pursuing a long time, it
15:28
takes us stepping into a different version of ourselves.
15:31
And sometimes that means doing something different, like
15:34
looking outside of the resources and outside of like the thoughts
15:38
that we had to get there. Like one thing that I talked
15:41
about in the podcast episode today as you like step into
15:44
uncertainty is my thought has always been my whole career,
15:47
like I'm going to figure it out, but where I want to be in five
15:50
years, like helping thousands of people now get into flight, like
15:53
that thought is not going to help me step into that version.
15:57
So that's what I thought of when you said that is like you have
15:59
the resources, you have the people you could have got there
16:02
on your own, but just step into where you wanted to go and do it
16:06
in a quicker amount of time required you to be different, to
16:10
choose different routes and to really take a chance on being
16:14
that person and deciding that you wanted to be that person.
16:17
And I think that takes a lot of courage, and I don't think a lot
16:19
of people have that or know how to do that for themselves.
16:24
Yeah. And I think it pushes you out of
16:25
your comfort zone mostly like I was.
16:29
I think the first I was very involved, the first like 2
16:33
months, I was probably on almost every call.
16:35
And then I took a step back. I bought a house.
16:37
Then my wife got pregnant or she already was.
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And at that point, I was very, very invested and trying to get
16:47
everything I could to get to get in a flight.
16:50
And then I took a little step back and then I came came back
16:53
to the Group A little bit. You're never away from it.
16:55
You're always still present. But one thing that I was
17:00
thinking about back then, about a little over a year ago, before
17:03
I started, I wasn't pushing myself to do ride alongs.
17:09
I wasn't pushing myself to continue to make connections.
17:13
I ran into one of the flight nurses I did a ride along with
17:16
probably six years ago when I was at ER tech.
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I didn't get to fly, but I didn't reach back out to him for
17:24
a long time until after this, after I started with this group
17:29
and that kind of pushed me Once I've learned about everything
17:32
with the group and how to my battery's about to die.
17:36
I. Know if it does, that's OK,
17:40
we'll come right back on. Yeah.
17:44
But basically I knew that I can keep just by myself or I can
17:51
have a resource that's more personal with me and to keep
17:56
pushing me. And that's what the community
17:57
group does too. You have all the people around
18:00
you I met now. Now I know people that are going
18:02
to be now my Co workers at my base.
18:05
So and I didn't, I think you even told me that when I first
18:08
started here. I completely forgot about it.
18:12
And by the time I already had my first two interviews and then I
18:16
reached out to one of them and I then remembered he's actually at
18:20
the base that I'm applying for and that I'm interviewing for.
18:23
And there's other people that are very close to me, like 20
18:26
minutes away from me now. Yeah.
18:29
So it's a niche group, but all over the nation.
18:33
But you don't realize how how closely knit this is too.
18:36
Yeah, I love that it's grown so big too that you not only have
18:39
coworkers that are near you, but then you also, we also have
18:42
someone else who's going through the Academy starting this month
18:45
so that you'll be able to kind of glean on her if you need to
18:47
too when you start the Academy next month.
18:50
But I'm curious what you would say and This is why I made it
18:55
lifetime because I know things happen, life happens, things
18:59
come up and I want to help you guys all the way to your flight
19:03
goal. Whether you have to step back or
19:05
you know, life happens or something.
19:07
I want to continue to help you so that you can you can step
19:11
back into the group when you need to.
19:13
But I'm curious for you, it, I know there's lots of people out
19:17
there that have stepped away from this goal and have kind of
19:20
taken a step back. What would you tell them right
19:25
now who are like, do I just give this up?
19:27
It's just not the right time for me.
19:29
Maybe I'm not meant for this. Like what would you tell those
19:32
people in particular? When I joined the group, I
19:39
thought it was, I thought it was not the right time either.
19:44
You talk about the time and experience.
19:47
The time and experience is not all about getting into this job.
19:51
It's about what you make of your time in your current role.
19:55
I was, I was almost going on a different path to be honest.
19:59
I think I remember telling you about this when we, when we
20:02
first did our first call on my resume, I thought I was going to
20:05
go get another job in the ICU and do both try to work like 48
20:11
plus hours with those two different jobs each week, trying
20:15
to balance that out and keeping keeping on a different
20:18
structure. But.
20:23
When I learned about what was most important about making
20:27
connections and honing on your skill in your current job,
20:31
that's what really drove me to continue this for the people
20:36
that are holding back. It's really easy to do that when
20:40
you're so used to your current job.
20:42
I know people in our group, there's many people that have a
20:46
lot more experience than I do. I'm talking 1520 years of ICU or
20:51
both ERICU education, so many different experiences and it
20:56
could be challenging to get a job.
20:58
It can still be challenging for them to get hired.
21:01
It's not easy to pass the critical care entrance exams for
21:05
the flight flight companies or you know, some people are trying
21:09
to get their CFRN ahead of time. And I know it's everything's a
21:13
daunting task to get to it. When you look at like when you,
21:16
when you see where you're at now and you look way in the future,
21:20
it looks not easy. It's not going to, you're not
21:23
going to get there that easily. And so that's where you, you
21:26
take a step back and you're like, I'm not going to climb
21:28
that right now. I'm not going to get to that
21:30
point. It'll happen eventually maybe
21:33
and maybe I maybe I won't be able to get there.
21:38
But obviously you can. Everyone has an opportunity to
21:41
get to that point. It just better depends on how
21:44
you're going to go about it. Yeah, I remember when you were
21:48
saying that. I remember going on this hike
21:49
with my husband and my son where they're like, we're going to get
21:51
to the top of that today. And I'm like, no, we're not.
21:53
But then it was like small little switchback.
21:56
So that's what I was thinking. Like as you were saying that is
21:59
this process of getting to flight is like small
22:01
switchbacks. It's like we get to the first
22:03
switchback, OK, now we go up. And then I remember looking down
22:07
at the end of the day and be like, I can't believe I did all
22:09
of that, but that's what it is. It's not looking at the peak of
22:13
where you got to get to get there.
22:15
It's like OK, how do I make small little switchbacks for it?
22:19
Yep, exactly. Because the truth is, now that
22:22
you're in flight, that doesn't stop.
22:24
You're going to be constantly annually tested.
22:29
There's going to be testing coming up as you're stepping in.
22:32
So it's like, how do you become the person who has the
22:35
capability to have these ongoing things at this level that you're
22:39
going to play at and still, you know, know that there's going to
22:43
be another mountain to climb? And how do I not make that
22:45
daunting? How do I make that a fun
22:47
challenge? Yep.
22:49
Yeah. Is there anything else that you
22:54
feel like was really pivotal for you to get to this point, really
22:58
at the 3 1/2 year mark of working critical care that was
23:02
super helpful for you that you might want to share, that might
23:04
be helpful for other people in getting there?
23:08
One of the things you teach about is making connections to
23:11
other people, not just not just your experience in your current
23:17
jobs. Not getting different
23:19
experiences work whether you're going to go ICUER, whether you
23:23
want to go pediatric ICU or PEDs ERI did not try to pursue all of
23:29
that after starting with you. I was in a rural ER, which
23:33
honestly, the flight companies actually really admire small
23:39
little hospitals and the experience you get there can be
23:42
very valuable. I, I think they actually really
23:47
admired that over my level 2 trauma center experience.
23:50
I've had better experiences working there with different
23:54
patients and harder patients that you care for for many more
23:58
hours than than working in a level 2.
24:04
The other thing was like I was talking about with the with the
24:08
making your connections. I think the most important thing
24:11
for me was and for for people in general is to network and make
24:16
connections. And that's the part with the
24:17
group is you get to network of other people.
24:20
Like I said, I now I'm going to be working with one of one of
24:24
the people in the group, but also if we should start doing
24:29
ride alongs, making connections with other people in the area
24:32
for where which bases you want to go to.
24:35
There's other bases that I did I either met or did a ride along
24:38
with and I've been texting all of them.
24:41
They are, they knew I wanted to get in the job.
24:43
Some of them were trying to tell me to go apply to their base two
24:46
hours away. So once you start making those
24:50
connections and you tell the people that this is what I'm
24:52
going to get into. So for example, the guy I did a
24:55
ride along with back in 2018, I've been texting him too.
24:58
And he's like, when are you going to come work at our base
25:01
now? And I'm like, it's, it's really
25:05
eye opening. It's kind of like this full
25:07
circle thing like you're talking about.
25:08
I was a tech when I, when I met him.
25:10
I was, I wasn't even in, I wasn't even into my actual
25:13
nursing program at that point. And now years later, I've done
25:17
nursing school, I've got my job experience now I'm hired and I'm
25:21
about the same base. Heck, I could probably pick up a
25:24
shift with him now at this point.
25:25
So really I think it is about the, the connections that you
25:28
make and who you know and the environment.
25:32
And I, I did the calculation in my head.
25:34
I was, I was thinking about how many clinical staff are at each
25:37
base, how many bases are in my radius.
25:41
It's such a niche field when I, when you really put it into that
25:44
realm, specifically how many nurses will they hire or how
25:48
many medics will they hire? They're you're you're really
25:50
limited. Are you able to hear me?
25:53
Yes, I can hear you. Great.
25:55
Oh, there we go. OK, cool.
25:57
We can just go with that if that's easier for you.
26:00
Yeah, I'm on my my phone. OK, perfect.
26:04
OK. We were talking about you kind
26:06
of left off on just networking and do you remember where we
26:12
kind of left off? Yeah, I was talking about making
26:16
connections with other people. And I think that's really the
26:19
biggest, the biggest thing with this job with how niche it is.
26:23
And there's not many opportunities.
26:26
And there's people with a lot more quote UN quote time and
26:31
experience than you. And I think trying to do
26:35
everything you can to make yourself in the best path and
26:38
the best candidate, not just by the time and experience you
26:43
have, but by making yourself marketable, putting yourself out
26:47
there, making connections, other people so they know who you are
26:50
for when the time does come that you're ready and you're able to
26:53
apply. And I think that's definitely
26:54
what helped me get into the job. Yeah, I love that.
26:58
And I always say, like the earlier you can do that, the
27:02
more comfortable you're going to be.
27:03
And then more doors open for you for networking too, that maybe
27:07
you didn't think were available and just gives them more time to
27:10
get to know you. And then you also to get to know
27:12
the different teams and maybe what's going to be a good fit
27:14
for you, because I always say you're picking the team as much
27:17
as the team's picking you. Right.
27:21
And my question for you with that is getting started on that
27:24
is the hardest part. And I really teach you guys like
27:26
how to start networking, how to start doing ride alongs, what to
27:30
expect on your ride along day. But for you, what was the
27:36
feeling that you had to be willing to feel to start that?
27:39
I know some people it's like uncomfortable, it's like
27:42
embarrassment, it's doubt. But like, what was the feeling
27:45
for you that you had to allow yourself to feel to get started
27:48
with that portion of it? You pretty much said it right
27:52
there. Uncomfortable.
27:54
I was definitely not ready nor felt like I was comfortable
28:00
enough to even start applying. When I first joined with you,
28:04
you were like you're you're ready to start.
28:07
We're ready to start putting applications in and I'm like,
28:10
what right now? I'm not ready for this.
28:13
I'm I wasn't comfortable with that.
28:15
I was definitely not ready to, to start pursuing it, but I
28:22
think being able to own that and realize it's OK to be
28:26
uncomfortable. You're, you're never going to be
28:28
comfortable in this job. You're never going to be
28:29
comfortable really in any job. You might feel like you know
28:32
what you're doing, but there's always going to be levels of
28:34
uncertainty, especially with getting into flight.
28:37
Every call is going to be different.
28:39
Every situation is going to be different.
28:40
You're always going to keep learning.
28:42
Not you shouldn't. You shouldn't be comfortable.
28:45
So I definitely think that's kind of how I felt.
28:47
Yeah, it's like embracing the discomfort of it all, for sure.
28:50
Right. My other hunch for you, and I
28:53
think we had coached on this one time was, and I think this is so
28:56
common. That's why I think it's like
28:57
important to really talk about is also the fear of being
29:01
successful. It's like what holds people back
29:03
from starting to connect, starting to do right along,
29:05
starting to apply, starting to reach out.
29:07
Is there like what, a little bit of fear that I'm actually going
29:10
to succeed at this and do I want that too?
29:14
I'm curious if that ever came up for you.
29:16
Yeah, that's actually really funny.
29:18
I I kind of felt that too. That's really funny when you put
29:25
it that way. It I definitely did feel that.
29:28
I was thinking the same thing when it when I first started
29:31
with you and I did a ride along and probably within just over a
29:36
month after we started and that really put into perspective of
29:39
why I'm actually close to this goal.
29:42
I was actually, I'm not wanting to get hired right at that
29:45
point. And I've heard that from other
29:47
people in the group too, that they've talked about it.
29:49
They're like, I don't feel ready.
29:50
I'm I'm worried that I'm going to be successful and I'm worried
29:54
that I'm going to get the job right now, even though I don't
29:56
feel comfortable yet. So that I definitely, I
30:00
definitely did feel that initially.
30:02
So what would you tell people, because I think that is a common
30:04
thought and just being able to be a part of this group and
30:06
community and hear the people say it.
30:08
You're like, oh, I'm not weird for thinking it.
30:10
I'm not wrong for thinking of it.
30:11
But what would you tell the people who are possibly thinking
30:14
that portion of it? Like, oh, I, I don't feel ready.
30:17
I do have a little bit of fear of being successful.
30:20
I do have a fear of reaching out and then wanting to interview me
30:22
and then them hiring me all the way and not feeling ready.
30:25
So what would you tell those people?
30:27
Well, the first thing is you're not alone.
30:29
I felt that. I know other people have felt
30:31
that. It's totally normal to feel
30:33
that. It's probably when when you
30:37
probably to put it in another perspective, if you, if you're
30:39
feeling that, that probably means that you're, you are close
30:45
to being to being in the job. You're already there.
30:48
Practically, if you're feeling like you're going to succeed,
30:51
then you're you're going to succeed.
30:53
You're you're right there. You're so close to it.
30:56
And I think that's another way to put it into perspective of
31:00
you're already fearing that you're going to be successful,
31:03
which means you're probably going to get there very, very
31:05
shortly. And that's probably what you're
31:06
more scared of. You're more scared of starting
31:08
the job than actually getting it.
31:10
Yeah, and I think that's a common thing too, is like, I see
31:13
you guys try to solve for everything because you want to
31:15
do it perfectly and I'm like, let's just do one switch back at
31:19
a time 1. Exactly.
31:21
And that's like with, with my, I thought I was going to need to
31:25
go get ICU experience, like a cardiac ICU or maybe work in a
31:30
hospital that has pediatric ICU. And I'm, I'm so glad I did not
31:35
try and do that. I stayed, I stayed at my
31:38
department. I honed in on my skills there,
31:41
tried to climb the ladder a little bit.
31:43
Yeah. I, I think you touched on
31:46
something really big is like hone in on what you're currently
31:49
doing, whatever department level you're currently working on in
31:52
critical care, because that's so important.
31:54
That's what they're looking for is leaders and that you really
31:57
understand your, your job and your specialty.
32:01
And those are the leaders that they want to pull into flight
32:04
because they don't want someone who's done a little bit of
32:07
everything that just makes you mediocre and everything.
32:09
They want someone who's really good at rural bed ER or really
32:13
good at rural bed IC. Like those are the people that
32:16
they're looking because the critical thinking skills will
32:18
get them through patients that they've never seen before.
32:21
And that's exactly what they praised about in in the
32:25
interview. They asked me specifically about
32:28
my leadership skills. They not to quote it exactly,
32:32
but it was somewhere along the lines of, you know, we really
32:35
value strong leaders in this field.
32:38
They thrive in this environment. What leadership characteristics
32:42
do you have and what have you demonstrated in your current
32:45
role as far as being a leader? Is there anything you've done
32:48
currently? And just can you give us a, give
32:51
us an example of it? And so that was something that I
32:55
know we talked about was honing in on your, your, your role,
32:59
whether it's like in the ER at a bigger trauma center, it's
33:03
actually being in the trauma environment or being in the
33:06
recess slash trauma Bay, Not always having a team, being able
33:11
to be a resource for other people, being able to get other
33:14
extra training to be to be that resource or to get to the point
33:18
where you're a charge nurse or a lead in your department rather
33:23
than going and getting other experience somewhere else that
33:26
that could be valuable too. But really what they want to see
33:29
the leadership roles you can have.
33:31
Or another cert, right? Right.
33:33
Well, that was the other thing that we talked about that too.
33:36
I talked about that with you. I was, I was thinking I needed
33:39
to, I needed to get my CFR in first.
33:42
I had time and if I wanted to, I could try and get it.
33:44
But I didn't end up even trying to do it first and I'm glad I
33:47
didn't. Now I can focus on the job and
33:51
transitioning into it and then slowly working my way.
33:54
And I think you have a a year or so once you're hired to get your
33:58
CFR in and then they'll pay for the actual test once you pass
34:03
it, so. Yeah, so good.
34:05
And something that you said about leadership too.
34:07
I think it's really important to point out when you guys think
34:09
about leaders, nurse leaders in your life that you look up to,
34:12
it's not always the people with the most knowledge or the most
34:16
time experience or the smartest. Like for me, when I was thinking
34:19
about leaders that I really looked up to, it was like ones
34:21
who wouldn't, who wouldn't say no to a challenge, ones who
34:25
never backed down, ones who are willing to keep going and asking
34:28
the hard questions, ones not the ones who are knowledgeable, but
34:31
the ones who always knew where the resources were.
34:34
And so I think it's really important, like you said, too,
34:36
is think about those leaders that at your life you look up to
34:40
start to hone. And then The thing is like, take
34:42
yourself seriously on the unit that you're working on as the
34:46
leader and build that. Yeah.
34:50
And honestly, it was kind of hard for me to do that in my
34:52
department. I, I didn't realize how fast I
34:56
grew in there and how fast I was able to climb into different
35:01
roles. They, you know, they have a
35:02
structure where you get, and this is at a bigger hospital
35:06
too. You have to wait six months
35:08
before you can get triage trained, 6 months before you get
35:11
trauma trained or a year. And there's some people that
35:16
haven't had the opportunity and they've been there a year and a
35:17
half for, for any of them. And some people, it's been a
35:21
little bit easier. They're more on the structure.
35:23
I think I got my triage training done within the first six months
35:26
or first two months. And I have my MICN within two
35:29
months too. And all these nurses that have
35:32
been there two years, they're looking at me like, how did you,
35:36
how did you get into this role? I didn't really push for it that
35:39
much, but I was given the opportunity to to pursue those
35:42
things. And then once you're trained in
35:44
those areas, they start letting you, they really try to focus,
35:48
putting you in those different roles to get into the trauma Bay
35:52
and to commute to, to continue climbing that ladder.
35:55
And there's also so many opportunities for other things
35:58
you can do. That's what the with my
36:00
interview with Reach, they also asked about.
36:04
Are there any other things you've done in your department?
36:06
Which I haven't really done any other committees or anything
36:10
personally, but I know that that's something you could do.
36:12
And, you know, you can be on a sepsis or a stroke or STEMI
36:16
committee. Yeah.
36:17
So I guess some of them do admire that.
36:20
Yeah, and lean into what you're interested in.
36:22
Like some people aren't interested in being committees,
36:24
but you are interested in the learning and the growing and all
36:26
of that. Yeah, If it wasn't, I have to go
36:31
into a little bit of coaching with you for a second.
36:33
If it wasn't because you had the opportunities open up for you,
36:36
why do you think you were offered those things so quickly?
36:40
I think to be honest, I think one of the reasons is because I
36:43
was, I was a former tech there and so they knew my abilities
36:47
already because I had already been working there.
36:51
And I, I mean, I did demonstrate that I was knowledgeable from my
36:55
previous job, from working at my small rural facility.
37:01
I think they really valued that and knew that I had a lot of
37:03
experience from there with with triaging and they, they told me
37:08
in my interview they're like, we want to try to get you through
37:10
all the training pretty quick. We think you'd be really good
37:12
here, yeah. Yeah.
37:16
And the thing with that, that I just want to point out for you
37:19
that I think will be really valuable and helpful for you is
37:22
it wasn't that they knew your capabilities and and your
37:25
ability. It's because you knew your
37:26
capability and your ability. True.
37:29
And that's going to be the thing that as you start this new
37:33
identity, as you start this new job that's going to search you
37:35
forward as you know your ability, you know what you're
37:37
capable of even though you haven't done it before.
37:39
And that's what's going to put you into this role so much
37:42
quicker transition, more confidently.
37:44
You're going to be, it happens so much quicker in flight.
37:46
You're going to be precepting people in the next 6 months, all
37:49
that stuff. It's because you know your
37:51
ability and your capability, even though you haven't done it
37:53
before. Yeah.
37:55
Which will be so awesome to watch and see.
37:58
Yeah, I'm really excited. Is there anything that we
38:02
haven't talked about today that you would love to mention or
38:07
give as a piece of advice to someone trying to get to flight?
38:10
Or is there anything in your nursing career in general that
38:14
you have felt like has been really pivotal for you that
38:18
might be helpful for someone who's listening?
38:23
I kind of touched on it towards the beginning talking about my
38:26
experience, but I know that people are struggling with which
38:32
department to go into. I struggled with that initially,
38:35
knowing whether or not I wanted to try something different
38:38
besides the ER. I knew the ER was what I loved
38:41
and I wanted to stay in that, so I'm glad I didn't do that.
38:45
I would focus. I would encourage people that
38:49
are in the earlier phase of trying to get into this job or
38:53
trying to get into nursing too in general.
38:57
Tried job shadowing is it was one of the biggest things.
39:00
Look into the different departments before you try and
39:03
apply everywhere. See which one you actually want
39:06
to work in. I learned very quickly in
39:07
nursing school that I wasn't really a huge fan of ICU.
39:10
I thought I would do it just because of the experience it
39:13
would be, but I'm glad I didn't do it.
39:17
Don't try to juggle too many things at once.
39:20
Or I guess the other phrases, don't put too many eggs in the
39:22
same basket or something like that.
39:26
You're going to overload yourself.
39:28
Honestly, you don't need to stress yourself out this.
39:33
You can get to this path without doing too many things, without
39:38
burning yourself out. It's I'm too young to do that.
39:41
I don't want to burn myself out of this job or out of this
39:43
career. And so that's another thing if
39:50
you're wanting to get in this field and you're hesitant on it
39:54
and you know, some people decide they want to, they want to do it
39:56
and then they don't want to do it after a while.
39:59
And that's totally fine. I think the other thing would be
40:03
if, if you're really interested in doing flight nursing and you
40:06
want to see what it is, is, is to try to your best to get a
40:10
ride along and whether you even fly or not.
40:13
Like, like I said, the first time I went, I did 2 ride alongs
40:17
and the first two, those two visits I didn't fly, but I still
40:21
knew I wanted to do the job. I I knew it.
40:23
I knew it entailed. I went to the base.
40:25
I met with them, I sat with all day with them, took a tour of
40:29
the helicopter, still didn't get a chance to fly.
40:31
Same thing on the second day, didn't get a chance to fly.
40:35
Six years later, I finally did. 6-7 years later, I finally did
40:39
another viral on once I was a nurse and getting closer to
40:42
getting that, to getting to the applian.
40:44
And that's what I learned for sure, that this is definitely
40:48
what I want to get into. And that kind of drove me to get
40:51
to push myself more. Yeah, I love that you said job
40:55
shadowing, because I think that's something that new grads
40:57
don't really think about, like just ask for a job shadow.
41:00
And I do think it's important to go into the unit you want to go
41:02
into right away because whether it's ERICU, pick the one that
41:07
interests you the most, that's where your critical thinking
41:09
skills are going to go because you're most interested in it,
41:11
you're about going to work with it.
41:13
And for everybody, that's a little bit different in what
41:15
that is. And a lot of people think in
41:17
nursing school you're you're going to get every experience
41:19
possible. It depends on the program.
41:22
You may be able to it'll be fantastic.
41:25
You get both ERICU or you might not get any of them.
41:29
When I was in nursing school, it was during COVID.
41:32
I graduated, I went through three semesters and on the 3rd
41:35
semester is when COVID happened. So my clinicals got shut down my
41:39
last semester. I was one of the lucky four of
41:43
us that even got something. So I was in an outpatient
41:46
infusion center and all I did was just the Ivs.
41:49
Which? Is a great experience for an ER
41:51
nurse. But yeah, so I was kind of out
41:55
from clinical experiences and then by the time I passed and
41:59
collects and then by the time I actually got my first job, it
42:02
had been 14 months by the time I could since the last time I
42:07
stepped foot in a clinical setting or since I set foot in
42:09
the hospital, I I don't really consider my outpatient
42:12
experience in a real clinical exciting, but sort of been 14
42:17
months since I last set foot in a hospital, like in an acute
42:20
care, even just a Med search floor.
42:22
So it was a it was a whole new experience for me.
42:24
Again. It felt like I just redid
42:26
nursing school and took a huge gap.
42:31
So being able to shadow people in different departments.
42:34
It like I like I said, I did that in high school and I've job
42:37
shot at AER Dr. for I don't know, 10 shifts or so.
42:41
And that's what I thought I wanted to do.
42:43
But I also really liked the idea of nursing and flight nursing.
42:46
But it wasn't until I got into the department as a tech and
42:50
then really, really knew that yeah, I definitely don't want to
42:53
do that. I want to continue nursing.
42:54
So for people that want to go to nursing school or that want to
42:58
get into flight nursing, job shadow a nurse in the ICU or job
43:02
shadow a nurse in the ER, or do a ride along at a base or just
43:07
see if you can go to their base and get a do a visit.
43:10
You don't have to fly. You can just visit the base,
43:12
talk to them, see what the helicopter looks like.
43:15
That's what I would say. Yeah.
43:16
And I think I like the overall arching theme of all of that is
43:19
like, be willing to be uncomfortable to ask for what
43:21
you need and get what you need so that you can see if this is
43:25
something that you really want to do so that you can
43:27
experience. Like what unit, what department,
43:29
where do I want to go? And it's really like the
43:31
discomfort of just starting that and doing it.
43:35
Yeah. And then you asked if there's
43:37
anything else I want to point out.
43:39
You know, they're they're going to have people tell you it kind
43:43
of sucks. You're going to have people tell
43:44
you that you shouldn't get into a certain job.
43:46
And I've had that, I've had that happen to me because I'm a
43:48
bigger guy. I'm 62230 and they'll tell you,
43:53
oh, you're you're too tall. You're big.
43:54
You're a big guy for going in flight.
43:56
I'm like, yeah, I know I can do it though.
43:58
I know I can. I can fit in a helicopter.
44:00
I'm malleable. I can move around.
44:02
Yes, I'm tall. I don't care.
44:04
I still want to do this. I know I can get in this job.
44:06
And so you'll have nurses tell you that you shouldn't be doing
44:11
it, question you why? Why do you want to get into that
44:14
job? Like all they're all, you know,
44:17
no offenses. They're all a holes, you know,
44:19
You hear that a lot too. They're all cocky and arrogant.
44:24
But you can change that culture yourself, being in that role.
44:27
Like it, just like with how nurses eat their young, that
44:30
whole phrase, it's, it sure still is a thing.
44:33
Absolutely. But there's also a huge cultural
44:36
shift now that that's not always the case.
44:38
There's a lot of younger people in the field and making that
44:41
change. So what I encourage people is
44:44
don't let other people dissuade you from which department you
44:48
want to go into or to go into a certain profession.
44:50
If it's something you want to do, if you know you want to do
44:54
it, don't listen to them. Don't let those negative
44:56
influences affect your decision. Yeah, I love that you said that
45:00
because I think what happens is we believe what people say
45:05
because we have that thought a little bit ourself.
45:07
And so then we choose to believe it.
45:09
And then also those are just their limiting thoughts.
45:11
We don't want to take those on. What I've thought about a lot in
45:15
my career too, is I'm not willing to listen to you unless
45:18
you're playing in the arena with me.
45:19
Unless you're side by side with me and you're in that and you're
45:21
fighting in that arena and you're with me or you're ahead
45:24
of me, then I'll listen to you. Otherwise, if you're not
45:26
fighting in the arena with me and you're not working towards
45:29
the same thing or have been there, I'm not willing to take
45:32
on your thoughts. That's fair.
45:34
That's so powerful, what you just said.
45:36
For people, especially people who have limiting thoughts from
45:39
other people. Sometimes it can be your family
45:41
too, and people that you really wanted to go with you.
45:42
They're not all going to go with you.
45:44
Yeah. And it's hard because you want
45:46
to make sure your family agrees with the decision you make, and
45:51
you'd hope they'd be supportive. And it's great when they are.
45:53
You know, maybe not everybody agrees with it or that it's like
45:57
this job's a risky job. You know, you have, you have a
46:00
risk with it. There's been crashes this year.
46:04
So but yeah, with the taking into consideration what other
46:09
people say, it's, it's hard to not let that let that affect
46:13
you. But if you really think about
46:15
what your goal is and what your mission is, then you can kind of
46:18
push that to the side, go for what you want.
46:21
That's so good because that's going to be so helpful for you
46:23
as you run missions and calls where not everybody's going to
46:26
agree with you on what you're doing.
46:28
So it's a good little practice of that.
46:30
Yeah. Well, Zach, thanks for being on
46:32
today and really giving us a piece of your knowledge and a
46:36
piece of your journey of getting there.
46:37
I know something that you said is going to be really helpful
46:39
for someone who's wanting to get there or just kind of pursue
46:42
something that they put on hold for a little while.
46:44
So I think we had a really great conversation about that.
46:47
So I appreciate you being on. Absolutely, thanks for having
46:49
me. On and we'll see you later on
46:51
our call. Yep.
46:52
OK, bye. Bye.
46:54
If anything in this episode sparked your interest into
46:56
getting into flight, come join my Flight Pet group.
46:59
We are an entire community that meets together on a weekly basis
47:02
with an ongoing group chat. And if you are already flying
47:05
and you are currently a flight nurse or flight medic, you can
47:07
join my all Flight clinician group as well.
47:09
You can click on the link to join in the show notes or you
47:11
can DM me on Instagram. I hope to see all of you guys
47:13
inside.