UC Davis

Objective

The Certified Flight Registered Nurse (CFRN) credential independently validates a registered nurse's advanced knowledge, skills, and abilities in the unique specialty of flight nursing. Introduced in 1993 and celebrating its 30th anniversary in July 2023, the CFRN is held by over 5,500 registered nurses. The purpose of the 2022 CFRN pulse survey was to better understand the ways CFRN-certified registered nurses value this national flight nursing specialty credential. The CFRN survey is a companion to the 2022 Certified Transport Registered Nurse pulse survey, which focused on the Certified Transport Registered Nurse critical care ground transport nursing credential.

Methods

The Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing e-mailed individuals in its database of CFRN credential holders and asked them to respond to a 14-question online survey between October 17, 2022, and November 8, 2022. Participation in the survey was voluntary. Of the 5,275 verified CFRN holders who received the survey, 992 responded, for a response rate of 18.8%. The survey instrument included discrete field and open-ended questions. Data were deidentified for analysis, and institutional review board exemption was received. Counts and percentages were reported, and descriptive statistics were used.

Results

The highest percentage of flight nurses who responded have more than 10 years of experience in flight nursing (35.3%) and are employed by a stand-alone transport program (42.7%). Flight nurses reported they spent a mean of 70% of their work hours transporting via rotor wing aircraft, with a predominantly adult patient population. The top perceived benefits of being a CFRN-certified nurse were a sense of accomplishment and pride (90.7%) followed by flight physiology knowledge (85.4%), flight nursing clinical knowledge (83.4%), and confidence as a flight nurse (80.6%).

Conclusion

The 2022 CFRN pulse survey identified current CFRN demographics, practice environments including transport percentage by mode and patient population types, and perceived benefits of the CFRN credential. The findings suggest CFRNs are very experienced, provide care for patients across the age continuum, and perceive multiple intrinsic and extrinsic benefits of CFRN certification, all of which are essential to safe, evidence-based advanced nursing practice in the unique, complex, autonomous, and dynamic flight environment.