The professional quality of life of flight nurses: a cross-sectional study

Background: The role of a Flight Nurse is specialised; they must have both education and experience to fulfil the requirements of the role. Mastering these skills takes time, thus long-term retention is essential. When nurses experience their work as more fulfilling, they are more inclined to remain within a role for an extended period. One of the ways to determine the lived experience of nurses is to measure their Professional Quality of Life. This is the first study to look at the Professional Quality of Life of Flight Nurses who work in public sector Aeromedical Retrieval Services in New Zealand.Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the Professional Quality of Life of Flight Nurses working in the public sector in New Zealand.Design: A survey based cross-sectional design was employed, using the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) V Health survey tool.Methods: Online survey data was collected from a convenience sample of 169 Flight Nurses working in public sector Aeromedical Retrieval services in New Zealand.Results: Of the 88 respondents, all reported either high or average levels of Compassion Satisfaction (High 48.86%, Average 51.13%) and Perceived support (High 44.31%, Average 55.68%). The majority reported Low to Average scores for Secondary Traumatic Stress (Low 30.68%, Average 67.04% and High 2.27%), Burnout (Low 4.54%, Average 89.77% and High 5.68%) and Moral Distress (Low 23.86% and Average 76.13%).Conclusion: This study highlights that Flight Nurses in New Zealand's public sector generally experience a positive Professional Quality of Life, but that there are also instances of Burnout and Secondary Traumatic stress.