Specialty areas of practice
Emergency care nursing
What is emergency nursing?
Emergency nursing involves team work and prioritisation skills. Emergency nurses are familiar with a range of illnesses, injuries, trauma, cardiac aliments, medical and surgical problems and obstetric and gynaecological conditions. Emergency nurses are familiar with psychiatric emergencies, work-related injuries, how to handle hazardous materials and how to preserve forensic evidence. Emergency nurses also possess skills to enable them to communicate with families in crisis.
In the specialty of Emergency nursing the challenges and demands may be many, but the rewards are immense, as Emergency is one of the few areas that allows nurses to be a generalist and a specialist at the same time.
How do I become an emergency nurse?
Emergency nurses must hold Victorian registration as a Division 1 Registered Nurse, and to have completed a Graduate Year Program is recommended. In order to be recognized as an Emergency nurse you may be required to complete a Graduate Certificate or Diploma of Emergency Nursing of at least 12 months duration. Before you undertake further study, experience in acute medical and surgical nursing is highly valued. Courses are offered at various universities, and are affiliated with a number of hospitals throughout metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. The courses comprise of both theoretical and clinical units, and clinical educators and clinical nurse specialists support students at the bedside. Scholarships for the courses may also be available to eligible participants through the Government, both Commonwealth and State, through employing hospitals and through professional organisations.
What will my employment opportunities be?
The practice of Emergency nursing as a specialty continues to develop, and new nurse initiated services and roles are being developed every day. There are employment opportunities for a variety of nursing roles within the specialty of Emergency nursing.
These include clinical positions, management, research, clinical nurse consultants, clinical educations, and nurse practitioner roles.
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