Nursing Specialties-Emergency

This is the first in a series of articles on Nursing Specialties. Do not just focus on getting your LPN/LVN, RN, BSN or MSN, focus on entering a specialty where you can grow as a Nurse, touch lives and enjoy a good paycheck. This first article will focus on two Nursing Specialties in Emergency care.

• Cardiac Care Nurse- Cardiac Care Nurses treat patients suffering from heart diseases and conditions. A cardiac care Nurse helps patients in surgical or ambulatory settings. A cardiac care nurse does the following: cardiac and vascular monitoring, health assessments, Electrocardiogram monitoring and post operative care. As a cardiac care nurse, one must have a working knowledge of  Basic Life Support and Advanced Cardiac Life Support and hold the necessary certification. Cardiac nurses must possess skills including electrocardiogram monitoring, defibrillation, and medication administration administration by continuous intravenous drip.First, you need to become a registered nurse. You’ll need to work as an RN for a minimum of two years, and get at least 2,000 hours of clinical experience in cardiovascular nursing. Also, you’ll need to take 30 hours of continuing education classes, then you can apply to take the Cardiac Care Nursing Certification Exam administered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Once you pass you will need to renew your certification every five years.

 Cardiac care nurse career outlook and salary

• Critical Care Nurse- As a Critical Care Nurses you most likely will work in a hospital-emergency room and intensive care- but one can also work in nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, outpatient facilities and flight unit. A critical care nurse gives care to critically ill patients. the environment that critical care nurses work in is fast paced and can be exhausting, both emotionally and physically. A critical care nurse's functions are: assessment of patient, intensive therapy and intervention and  life support. Critical care nurses have to be conversant with different equipment. this includes equipment such as mechanical ventilator, intra-aortic balloon pumps, cardiac monitoring systems and many other advanced life support devices. To become a Registered Critical care Nurse you’ll need to work as an RN for a minimum of two years in critical care. Also, you’ll need to take continuing education classes (the amount of hours are set by your hospital), then you can apply to take the certification exam specific to your specialty area. There are variants of critical care certifications under the Critical care umbrella that the AACN offers to allow nurses to certify in progressive care (PCCN), cardiac medicine (CMC) and cardiac surgery (CSC). Sub-specialities of critical care nursing include such areas as Neonatal Intensive Care (NICU), Pediatric Intensive Care (or PICU), and Adult Intensive Care (or ICU).

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Critical care Nurse job outlook

In the next article we will feature three other Emergency specialties : Pulmonary care nurse, Sub-acute nurse and Toxicology nurse