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Do You Have What it Takes to Be an Emergency Nurse?

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Nursing is a skill that is still in demand, and nowhere is this more evident than in the field of emergency nurses. The average age of nurses is still on the rise, and more seasoned nurses are retiring and finding health-care opportunities with more administrative work and less patient-related duties.

Emergency nurses often face patients with serious injury or trauma. You must be able to quickly recognize problems that are life threatening, and assist in solving them on the spot. You may work not only in a hospital emergency room, but also in an ambulance, helicopter, urgent care center, sports arena and in other places. You will meet patients of all backgrounds and ages, and experience all kinds of conditions in your patients.

Emergency Nursing is an Exciting Specialty

Emergency nursing is an area in which you will need to demonstrate a variety of skills, including:

  • Technical prowess
  • Critical thinking
  • Customer service
  • Time management

This is an exciting field of work, since not only are two workdays never the same, but two patients never have the same precise problems, either. Everything comes at a fast pace, and creative problem solving is always an asset.

The Registered Nurses who are best suited for the field of emergency nursing can work long periods on their feet – shifts are usually 12 hours long – and they should be able to work shifts on weekends, holidays and nights.

Emergency nurses must have the energy and stamina to keep up with the often fast-paced work done in hospital emergency rooms. You will need to have an analytical mind, so that you can absorb all that is going on around you, and be able to anticipate changes on the move.

Organizational skills are very important for emergency nurses. You will be expected to multitask and remain composed, even in difficult situations, as you work together with physicians, emergency room patients and their families.

As an emergency nurse, your main job duties will be:

  • Stabilizing patients who experience trauma
  • Minimizing pain
  • Quickly uncovering medical conditions
  • Teaching your patients about injury prevention

You’ll Need More than Your Degree and License to be an Emergency Nurse

There are many paths which nursing students take in order to arrive in the career line of their choice. You may have an associate degree or a master’s degree. You will also need additional training that is emergency-department specific. This includes:

  • Trauma care
  • Pediatric emergencies
  • Basic life support
  • Advanced cardiac life support

There are various ways in which you can attain these additional training needs. You may get an internship at a hospital, or enroll in a training program for nurses who wish to change from one specialty area to another.

Once you have earned your Registered Nurse (RN) degree, you will usually find it helpful to work for a year or more in the generalized nursing industry, before you transition to emergency medicine.

After you attain a career in the emergency department of a hospital, a mentor will usually work with you and offer support, until you are fully comfortable in functioning as an emergency nurse. You will also be required to become familiar with the specific policies and procedures at the hospital in which you wish to work.

Emergency Medicine Is Different from other Areas of Expertise

Whether you began work as a pediatric nurse, worked in a physician’s office or have worked in areas like Intensive Care, you will find that emergency nursing is a completely different mind-set. You will be concentrating on saving lives before you send your patients on to another department or medical center for continuing care.

The post Do You Have What it Takes to Be an Emergency Nurse? appeared first on NursingProgramsHelp.com.


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