Thursday, April 18, 2013

Emergency Nurse Practitioner Job Description

Working as an emergency nurse practitioner.


Nursing is one of the hottest careers. The need for nurses continues to hold strong no matter what the economy does. This can be attributed to the fact that we all need medical care. In addition, the aging population needs medical attention. An emergency nurse practitioner works in an emergency room or critical care until. In addition, they have advanced trained beyond a typical nursing degree.


Requirements


A nurse needs to have completed high school or obtained a GED. From there she will go on to a nursing program at a university, community college or technical college. A nursing degree can be completed in 2 or 4 years depending on which specific degree a person dedicates herself to.


Nurse Practitioner


A nurse practitioner is a specialization of nursing. It requires additional training. She will perform physical examinations; request that patients receive diagnostic tests; create treatment plans; recommend other therapies like physical, occupational and respiratory; and prescribe drugs.


Emergency Room


Working in a nursing room exposes the nurse to a fast-paced environment in which he has the opportunity to see many different problems. It requires that he adapt quickly to change so he is able to effectively assess and treat the patients he comes in contact with in a timely manner. He may work with people who have had cardiac arrest, stroke, severe migraine they have not been able to effectively treat on their own, too much drugs or alcohol usage, seizure, accident or been involved in a fight or altercation. Once patients are triaged, he will take their vital signs and begin a treatment assessment plan.


Interaction


In addition to interacting with patients during care, an emergency nurse practitioner may also interact with family members, guardian, friends, other health care providers, emergency transportation personnel and law enforcement agents if the patient was transported by a police officer. As such, the emergency nurse practitioner must have excellent communication skills. She must have patience but still be able to get the story of why the patient was brought to the hospital.


Outlook


In 2008, the median wage for an emergency nurse practitioner was $31.67 an hour or roughly $65,880 a year. At the same time, it was projected that there were 49,000 nurse practitioners. The need for emergency nurse practitioner is said to grow an average of 7 to 13 percent, providing an additional 15,300 job openings from 2008 until 2018. For those entering college or those looking to go back to school, this is a great career to consider.







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