Nurses in the field of emergency nursing are responsible for providing care to patients during the critical, or emergency, phase of a trauma or illness.

What Is Emergency Nursing?

These nurses must be able to recognize problems that are considered life threatening and arrange the necessary care at a rapid and efficient pace. Although these nurses work in an emergency room at the hospital, this is not the only location they are limited to. Some of the types of emergencies these nurses must be able to respond to include situations such as cardiovascular and respiratory problems.

What Should I Expect Working As An Emergency Nurse?

Emergency nurses work under the supervision of doctors in an urgent care setting to provide patients with care who are suffering from serious injuries or illnesses. Some of the duties they are responsible for include assessing the patient and making a diagnosis of the condition, tending to the injuries and wounds of a patient, monitoring the patient’s blood pressure and temperature, setting up intravenous infusion (IVs), and taking the patient’s vital signs. Most of the certified emergency nurses work in hospital settings, but others also work in a variety of other locations. These locations include prisons, cruise ships, sporting events, ambulances, helicopters, poison control departments, government offices and urgent care facilities.

What Are The Educational Requirements For Emergency Nursing?

In order to have a nursing career in the emergency specialty, you must first become a registered nurse. In order to become a registered nurse, you must complete the educational requirement from an approved institution and obtain either a diploma in nursing, an associate’s degree in nursing or a bachelor’s degree in nursing. There are online RN programs available as well as other online nursing programs that you can complete. The educational requirements usually take between two and four years to complete. As a part of your educational curriculum, you will be required to complete a certain number of hours in a clinical setting to obtain your experience. During this practice, you will learn how to work with patients that range from infants to adults and mental health patients.

Once the nursing education requirements have been met, you can then proceed with obtaining certification and passing the examination to become a registered nurse. This exam is set forth by the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN). Once you become an official registered nurse (RN), you may then choose to obtain additional certification in your field of specialization. To become certified as an emergency room nurse, you must pass an exam set forth by the Emergency Nurses Association. During this examination, you will be tested on a variety of situations that occur in the emergency room. These emergency situations include gastrointestinal emergencies, wound management, substance abuse emergencies, respiratory emergencies and neurological emergencies. Additionally, you can also obtain education and take nursing education courses in advanced trauma nursing. The Emergency Nurses Association also provides you with an opportunity to test and become certified as a Certified Pediatric Emergency Nurse (CPEN).

What Is The Average Salary For An Emergency Nurse?

Although further specialization within emergency nursing is rare, the more common areas of specialization within this subfield include trauma nursing, nurse practitioner and pediatric nursing. Other areas of injury prevention are also options for specialization as an emergency nurse. When speaking in terms of average salary for individuals in this nursing career, this depends on your geographical location, experience, education level and employer. ER nurses can make upwards of $55,000 a year.

• Registered Nurses: This links to the official entry in the Occupational Outlook Handbook set up by the Bureau of Labor Statistics from the United States Department of Labor. On this site, you will find a wide range of information on the registered nursing career as a whole. This information ranges from a career overview to the various specialization options, educational requirements and wage information.
• American Nurses Association: This is the official site to the American Nurses Association. This is the United States’ largest organization for nurses.
• Emergency Nurses Association: This is the official homepage for the Emergency Nurses Association. This is the organization that is responsible for providing you with certification to become a certified emergency nurse.
• Society of Academic Emergency Medicine: The Society of Academic Emergency Medicine is a society, or organization, that is dedicated to providing nurses and students with information and education to improve the care that is provided to the acutely ill and patients who are injured.
• Society of Trauma Nurses: This links to the official site for the Society of Trauma Nurses. This society is the only organization of its kind to span the continuum of trauma care at an international level. On this site, you will find information on upcoming and past events, educational information and an option to join the Society of Trauma Nurses as a member.
• Emergency Nurse Magazine: This links to the official site of the Emergency Nurse Magazine. This site allows you to stay up to do with a variety of information within the emergency subfield of the nursing industry. You also have access to courses and educational resources, upcoming and past events, guides, reviews and news and opinions.
• Journal of Emergency Nursing: This links to the Journal of Emergency Nursing. This site provides you with the opportunity to subscribe to the journal so you can stay up to day with the various happenings within this nursing subfield.
• Nursing a Shortage: This links to an article that explains what it is like to live a day in the life of an emergency room nurse. This article gives you an idea of what you can expect from one day to the next once you enter into the nursing industry as an emergency nurse.
• Emergency Department Nursing Certificate: This links to the certificate program for emergency department nursing that is provided by the University of California in San Diego. This site provides you with information so you have an idea of what to expect when obtaining your education. 
• Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency Nursing: This links to an informative page on the graduate-level program that is offered at the University of Maryland. This program blends the clinical nurse specialist program with the acute care nurse practitioner program.