5 Common Flight Nurse Interview Questions & Answers


Looking for your next job as a flight nurse means bringing your schooling and past experience to bear in concrete ways, so your resume and cover letter are as concise, informative, and sharp as possible. That’s just the first step, though. Once you have the interview booked, it is important to know that closing the job offer means competing against other candidates whose written presentation of themselves may be as sharp as yours. To get the edge you need to succeed, acing the face-to-face interview is essential.

The best way to lock into this is preparation. That means practicing common job interview questions like “What was your biggest challenge at your last job?” It also means being prepared for industry-specific flight nurse interview questions like the ones outlined below. By looking at examples of concise and well-structured answers, your own approach to these questions becomes easier to plan. When you combine this preparation with your other plans for practicing and researching the company, it all comes together to help you become the strongest candidate you can be.

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5 Flight Nurse Interview Questions & Answers

1. What is the job of a medical flight team?

The job of the flight team is to ensure the patient’s stability, comfort, and care during medical transportation, whether that is stabilizing patients and bringing them to a health care facility for further treatment, or transporting patients between facilities so that they can access the care they need in a location better suited to handling their particular medical situation. Either way, the team needs to work together to make transportation fast, effective, and safe, and to provide a continuum of care for the patient’s condition.

2. You disagree with your partner about an aspect of patient care. How do you resolve the dispute?

I believe there’s a chain of command for a reason, but there are also good reasons to step outside of it. For the most part, I think philosophical differences need to be handled later, and I would expect that for most of these situations, the person with seniority or rank would make the call in the moment. If it was a serious issue or possible mistake, though, I would focus on explaining my reasons for my approach or recommendation and pursuing them without reference to personal matters or outside considerations. I believe that if I am correct, the other person will be able to see through to it. If not, then eventually I have to say, there’s a chain of command for a reason.

3. What made you decide you wanted to get into a career as a flight nurse?

Before getting my RN, I was an EMT for several years, and that made me committed to a career path as a first responder and medical transportation expert. It wasn’t until I got involved in the military that I had the opportunity to see these jobs from the ground up, though. First I served as a medical transport driver, and later as a flight medic. By the time I finished my contract, I was already in nursing school and getting ready to pursue this career, whether I was in the military or out of it.

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4. How do you plan on keeping your skills up to date?

I’ve already taken several steps to acquire the skills and training necessary for this specialized position, and along the way I have gotten access to several refresher and recertification programs that I will use to ensure my credentials and skills are both updated as new research informs the field’s practices. I also plan on taking advantage of any training paths offered through your organization to supplement the required certifications.

5. What makes you an ideal candidate for a flight nurse position?

On top of my experience and my drive, which make me incredibly focused on doing well in this particular position, there is also the fact that I am willing to go further and do more to challenge myself. It was what made me want to be an EMT, and it has informed every step in my career process since then. I plan on continuing forward with this approach because it seems to be working well for me, and I think this kind of drive and self-set standards for achievement are necessary for any job that requires hands-on work in a high-pressure environment.