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Jimmy Holt
Jimmy Holt
00:53

Jimmy Holt

Tampa General Hospital

Tampa, FL USA

"Nothing is straightforward in life and the more you can roll with the punches, the better off you’ll be."

Career Roadmap

Jimmy's work combines: Medicine, Travel, and Helping People

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Day In The Life

Chief Flight Nurse

I provide critical care from the sky, flying into emergencies to stabilize and transport the sick and injured.

02:28

Day In The Life Of A Chief Flight Nurse

My Day to Day

After coming into work, briefing with on-duty crews, and checking out the aircraft, we are ready for the unknown, as we never know where we're going and who we're going to take care of during our duty day. I do both inter-facility flights, which are typically flights from a rural ER back to a major hospital, and scene flights, which could be things like car accidents, shootings, stabbings, and falls.

Skills & Education

Advice for getting started

To be a flight nurse, you'll need your nursing degree and then you'll need to have five years of level one trauma critical care experience.

Here's the path I took:

  • High School

  • Bachelor's Degree

    Nursing

    Western Governor's University

Learn more about different paths to this career

Life & Career Milestones

My path in life took a while to figure out

  • 1.

    I didn’t know what I wanted to do after high school but I knew I didn’t want to stay in my hometown, so I joined the military.

  • 2.

    When I got out of the military, I took a breather and then got a job as a federal firefighter.

  • 3.

    While working as a federal firefighter, I participated in the EMT course—my first EMT ride-along had so much action, I knew instantly that’s what I wanted to do.

  • 4.

    I left my job as a federal firefighter to work for a private EMS—it was less money, more hours, but way more passion.

  • 5.

    There wasn’t a paramedic program where I was at, so a friend convinced me to go to nursing school so I could take the paramedic exam in Florida.

  • 6.

    I worked full time while in nursing school, juggling EMS shifts and critical care transports to chase my dream.

  • 7.

    I moved to Tampa, Florida, and landed an ER job, telling my manager on day one that I wanted to be a flight nurse.

  • 8.

    I didn’t get the flight nurse role the first time I applied but I kept showing up, learning, and earned it the second time—now I’ve been flying for over 20 years and serve as chief flight nurse!

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