Are you gearing up for your first day of nursing school and still trying to hammer down a specialty?
Maybe you’ve been a nurse for 15 years but want a change of pace and are wondering if ER nursing is for you.
Whatever your reason for researching the benefits of being an ER nurse, we’re here to give you the lowdown on all things ER nursing.
Keep reading to find out:
- What it takes to become an ER nurse
- What to expect as an ER nurse; and
- Why you should consider ER nursing
Table of Contents
- Working in the ER as a Nurse: What Does It Take?
- 3 Important Qualities ER Nurses Need to Have
- What Is the Role of an ER Nurse?
- What Conditions Do ER Nurses Typically Treat?
- What Is it Like to Be an ER Nurse? A Peek Into the Day of an ER Nurse
- What Are the Benefits of Being an ER Nurse?
- Experience What It Is Like to Be an ER Nurse as a Travel Nurse With Trusted Nurse Staffing
Working in the ER as a Nurse: What Does It Take?
To be an emergency room (ER) nurse, you have to first be a certified nurse. This means:
- Attending nursing school
- Earning all your needed degrees; and
- Acquiring necessary certifications
Due to the current nursing shortages, some ERs are more likely to hire new nurses but, usually, a nurse has to have a good deal of practical experience before an ER will hire them.
While spending time getting some experience in another department before moving to the ER is a great path for many, not all nurses are excited about the idea of starting somewhere and ultimately switching departments.
If you don’t like the idea of having to work in another department for a couple of years before you get to the ER, you might want to consider doing your senior practicum in the ER. Although certainly not a guarantee, this might be a good way to be considered for a job in the ER once you graduate.
Another way to get your foot in the door is by working as an ER tech while in school. This will give you experience and help you build rapport with those in the ER. You might find that this opens a door for you upon graduation.
3 Important Qualities ER Nurses Need to Have
One thing is for sure; as an ER nurse, you will never have a boring day. ER nurses do a lot, and no two shifts are the same.
To thrive as an ER nurse, you need a unique skill set, including:
- Flexibility
- The ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment; and
- Attention to detail
#1: ER Nurses Are Flexible
There’s an old quip that goes something like this: “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.”
When it comes to ER nursing, there is no truer motto.
From hectic schedules to on-call shifts to crazy workdays, ER nursing is a constantly shifting field with little stability.
The ER is open 24 hour hours a day, 365 days a year. It doesn’t close for the weekend and the bank holidays that the 9-5 world lives for don’t exist.
In the ER, the only constants are emergencies and change.
If you are prepared to …
- Drop what you are doing and head to work at a moment’s notice while on-call
- Work long days — or nights — back-to-back
- Transition to and from a plethora of different patients and needs all day long; and
- Handle situations that keep “going wrong”
… ER nursing might be for you.
#2: ER Nurses Thrive in Fast-Paced Environments
Bright, fluorescent lights beaming down from above.
Squeaking shoes bustling around on the floor.
The smell of disinfectant..
Children crying, patients yelling, machines beeping, and colleagues talking a mile-a-minute – the ER is full of action every single second of every single day.
Is ER nursing stressful? Without a doubt. The ER is in constant motion and things move quickly.
As an ER nurse, you need the ability to handle a high-stress, fast-paced environment with dignity and grace, never allowing yourself to become too frazzled.
For those who want even more adventure, ER travel nursing can be a great way to experience ER nursing while enjoying all that travel nursing has to offer.
Trusted Nurse Staffing works with all types of travel nurses, including ER nurses. We offer great pay and benefits and we are available 24/7 to support our nurses.
#3: ER Nurses Are Detail-Oriented
The patient in room one needs Narcan and the patient in room 11 needs Lorazepam.
There is a patient in the waiting room who has been stable for the past two hours but he appears to be taking a turn for the worse.
The woman in front of you has severe allergic reactions to Albuterol but is in the middle of a massive asthma attack.
Paying attention to details isn’t just important—in the ER, it can mean the difference between life and death.
This means ER nurses need to be highly detail-oriented.
Thanks to modern technical advances, there are many checks and balances in place to help reduce errors but it is still important for nurses to follow procedures and pay attention to the little things.
What Is the Role of an ER Nurse?
What are ER nurses?
Are they pediatric nurses? Labor and delivery nurses? Orthopedic nurses? What about psychiatric or neuroscience nurses?
While ER nursing is considered a nursing specialization, ER nurses are all of the above and more.
An ER nurse’s main role is to assess a patient’s condition and create a care plan quickly and effectively. This might be as simple as giving them aspirin and telling them to go home and rest. It could also mean performing CPR or pushing a life-saving drug through an IV.
ER nurses are whatever a patient needs at each moment.
One of the toughest jobs an ER nurse can have is triage. Emergency rooms are a revolving door of people with health concerns ranging from life-threatening to minorly inconvenient and it is up to ER nurses to figure out who has what.
Sometimes it’s pretty obvious, like when a patient comes in mid-heart attack or bleeding out from a car accident.
Other times, it’s not so easy to tell. Patients may look just fine to the untrained eye but could actually be on the verge of a massive medical emergency and triage nurses have to be able to spot the subtle symptoms and treat them in time.
Because triage can be such a difficult job and requires extensive knowledge and experience, veteran nurses with years of experience under their belts usually handle this process.
What Conditions Do ER Nurses Typically Treat?
Emergency nurses encounter many conditions with varying degrees of severity—ailments range anywhere from a sore throat to a heart attack.
Some common conditions you may find yourself treating as an ER nurse include:
- Chest pains
- Stroke symptoms
- Difficulty breathing
- Accidents and injuries
- Severe trauma
- Burns; or
- Mental health crises
What Is It Like to Be an ER Nurse? A Peek Into the Day of an ER Nurse
Your sleepy fingers fumble to grab your phone as your foggy eyes adjust to the jarring brightness of the screen. It’s 5 a.m. and you have exactly one hour to be at work.
You tumble out of bed and stumble to the shower to get your blood pumping before heading to the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast. On your way to work, you pull through the drive-through of your favorite coffee shop and order a cup of ambition. The traffic this morning really is jumping as you make your way to the hospital.
Here goes another day in your life as an ER nurse.
Last night was incredibly busy and the night crew looks pretty beat. You take a look at the report from the night nurse before heading to your assigned zone to make sure it is ready for the day. Once you finish restocking supplies, it’s time to wait for your first patient.
You don’t have to wait long. There is a mom in the waiting room with her toddler who somehow managed to lodge a small candy in his ear. He is pretty shaken and mom seems a little embarrassed. You assure them both that they are in good hands and proceed to remove the problematic confection.
As the day wears on, you see many different patients with an equally diverse range of symptoms:
- A middle-aged man with chest pains who coded within ten minutes but is now admitted and stable in the ICU.
- A woman in labor who didn’t have time to make it to her midwife’s birthing center.
- A daredevil who wasn’t quite ready for that longboard stunt and broke his leg.
- A high school cross-country runner who forgot to hydrate and needs fluids.
- A trauma patient from a bad car wreck who didn’t make it.
Your hours are filled with caring for patients, charting, and keeping your rooms in good order.
By the time 5:30 p.m. rolls around, you are exhausted and ready to go home. You take one more lap around your zone and let your current patients know that you are heading out for the night but that they will be in great hands with the overnight crew. After turning in your report to the night nurse, it is finally time to head home.
You didn’t get much of a chance to eat during today’s shift so you grab some Chinese takeout on the way home. It was a long day but you know you made a difference and saved lives.
Once you’re home, you grab a quick shower before hunkering into bed for some rest before you get up and do it again tomorrow.
What Are the Benefits of Being an ER Nurse?
Being an ER nurse doesn’t just sound hard—it is hard. But there are some amazing benefits of being an ER nurse.
Meaningful Work
ER nurses are with people at their worst moments. They get the opportunity to save lives and support the people who need compassion the most.
Whether they are caring for a child who just broke their first bone or prepping someone for emergency surgery, ER nurses can leave every shift knowing that their job matters immensely.
You’re a Part of a Team
ER nurses make up an incredibly unique team. With all that they see and do together each day, ER teams often become close friends.
Working as an ER nurse requires collaboration and willingness to learn and work alongside others. The team dynamic of an ER is rare and difficult to find elsewhere.
More Autonomy Than Other Nursing Specialties
Because patients are often in crisis, ER nurses have to make faster calls and do more procedures than other nurses might. This often gives them a good bit more autonomy and leeway than others might have.
ER nurses get to do a little bit of almost everything for a whole lot of patients.
Always In-Demand
As long as there are humans, there will be emergencies. And as long as there are emergencies, there will be a need for emergency room nurses.
One of the greatest features of ER nursing is knowing that you have solid job security, even in the middle of an ever-changing employment landscape.
Emergency rooms around the country are constantly looking for qualified nurses who want to make a difference in the ER and Trusted Nurse Staffing can help you find the best ones.
Experience What It Is Like to Be an ER Nurse as a Travel Nurse With Trusted Nurse Staffing
If your heart started beating a little faster while you read and you felt the deep longing for adventure seep back into your soul, working in ERs around the country as a travel nurse just might be for you.
As an ER travel nurse, you get all of the benefits of being an ER nurse plus all of the rewards of being a travel nurse.
As an ER travel nurse with Trusted Nurse Staffing, you get even more benefits such as:
- The highest pay rates in the industry
- 24/7 access to your Trusted Partner — a real person who is always there to help you out
- Housing, meal, and travel stipends (on top of your regular wages. Bonus: these are usually tax-free)
- Regular bonuses
- Great insurance benefits
- A 4% match 401(k)
- And much more
If you’ve been thinking about travel nursing, this is your sign to create a profile with Trusted Nurse Staffing and begin building a life you will love.
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