dea of nursing experience as a marketable job skill or commodity has been the subject of intensive scrutiny. The idea was promoted at a time when large numbers of nurses were beginning to find it more difficult to advance in the profession as the upper levels became saturated with relatively young workers (Dayani & Holtmeier, 1984; Marszalek-Gaucher & Eisenhans, 1987). It was also a time when women were actively seeking broader opportunities and were often called upon to be more innovative than male job seekers (Costa, 1994). Hospital administration and other forms of health care management and administration were the primary field where nurses sought badly needed career change and new opportunities, many of them freshly armed with master's degrees in business administration. Since that time, interest in alternative markets for nursing experience expanded--but at a somewhat slower rate. In today's climate, however, "changing skill mix, with increased use of unlicensed caregivers, a shortened length of hospital stay, institutional downsizing, increased acuity in acute care hospitals, and a shift in locus of care to outpatient and homecare" are just some of the factors that are changing the face of healthcare in the 1990s and have serious implications for nurses' employment (Manuel & Sorenson, 1995, p. 248).
Today, more nurses than ever have the requisite managerial experience and skills that are needed in EMS--both in private firms and in ambulance companies. Welton (989) has described how he combined his nursing expertise with a business management degree and founded a thriving air ambulance company. In today's market, entrepreneurial undertakings are far riskier than they were even a few years ago. And the EMS field offers opportunities for nurse managers that make it unnecessary to consider riskier ventures if that does not appeal t
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