Emergency Nurses

Employers

Many emergency nurses work in hospital emergency rooms or emergency-care centers. They are also employed by managed-care facilities, long-term-care facilities, government agencies, camps, corporations, businesses, correctional institutions, poison control centers, the military, and other health care institutions. Other employment settings include emergency medical services/prehospital transport, flight nursing in helicopters/airplanes, and telephone triage. There are about 3.3 million registered nurses working in hospitals, including ER nurses.

Starting Out

Emergency nurses must first become registered nurses by completing one of the three kinds of educational programs and passing the licensing examination. Registered nurses may apply for employment directly to hospitals, nursing homes, and companies and government agencies that hire nurses. Jobs can also be obtained through school career services offices, by signing up with employment agencies specializing in placement of nursing personnel, or through state employment offices. Other sources of jobs include nurses' associations, professional journals, career and social networking Web sites, and newspaper want ads.

The Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) advises new graduates who are unable to immediately land a job as an emergency nurse to obtain experience in a critical care environment, a medical-surgical environment, or a step-down or intermediate care unit to build their knowledge and skills and improve their attractiveness to potential employers.

The ENA also recommends that registered nurses who want to break into the field of emergency nursing should take classes in advanced cardiac life support (which are available at local hospitals) and pediatric advanced life support (which are offered by some nursing schools).