Emergency Nurse Practitioner
Emergency nursing is a specialty within the field of professional nursing focusing on the care of patients with medical emergencies, that is, those who require prompt medical attention to avoid long-term disability or death. Emergency nurses are most frequently employed in hospital emergency departments (EDs), although they may also work in urgent care centers, sports arenas, and on medical transport helicopters and ambulances.
In addition to addressing these "true emergencies," emergency nurses increasingly care for people who are unwilling or unable to get primary medical care elsewhere and come to emergency departments for help.
Besides heart attacks, strokes, gunshot wounds and car accidents, emergency nurses also tend to patients with acute alcohol and/or drug intoxication, psychiatric and behavioral problems and those who have been raped.
They must be adept at working with patients of many different backgrounds, cultures, religions, ages and types of disabilities. Emergency nurses must also have a good working knowledge of the many legal issues impacting health care such as consent, handling of evidence, mandatory reporting of child and elder abuse and involuntary psychiatric holds.
In their role as patient educators, they must have a thorough knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pharmacology and psychology and be able to communicate effectively with patients and their families.
An emergency nurse is typically assigned to triage patients as they arrive in the emergency department and as such are the first professional patients see. Therefore, the emergency nurse must be skilled at rapid, accurate physical examination, early recognition of life-threatening conditions. In some cases, emergency nurses may order certain tests and medications following "collaborative practice guidelines" or "standing orders" set out by the hospital's emergency physician staff.
The Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN)® designation is granted to a registered nurse who has demonstrated expertise in emergency nursing by passing a computer-administered examination given by the Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing (BCEN). The certification exam first became available in July 1980, was accredited by ABSNC in February 2002, and was reaccredited in 2007 and 2012. The certification is valid for four years, and can be renewed either by passing another examination, by completing 100 continuing education units (CEUs) in the specialty, or by completing an online 150 question "open book exam."
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