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Emergency Nursing Handbook

Emergency nursing is a specialty within the field of professional nursing focusing on the care of patients who require prompt medical attention to avoid long-term disability or death. In addition to addressing "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. In fact, only a small percentage of emergency department (ED) patients have emergency conditions such as a stroke, heart attack or major trauma. Emergency nurses also tend to patients with acute alcohol and/or drug intoxication, psychiatric and behavioral problems and those who have been raped.

Emergency nurses are most frequently employed in hospital emergency departments, although they may also work in urgent care centers, sports arenas, and on medical transport aircraft and ground ambulances.


What are the most common conditions treated in the ER?
Emergency nurses encounter many conditions with varying degrees of severity—ailments range anywhere from a sore throat to a heart attack. According to data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, the top-five reasons for ER visits in 2014 were*:

Abdominal pain
Upper-respiratory infections
Strains and sprains
Superficial injury (an injury that does not affect muscles or organs)
Chest pain
The injuries ER nurses encounter most often depends largely on where they work. Hospitals in large metropolitan areas are more likely to see extreme cases like gunshot or stab wounds, but they also receive patients with less-acute problems who are simply seeking primary care, according to Carroll.

Rural areas typically have more trauma injuries resulting from vehicle crashes or accidents with farm equipment. “And, today, everybody is seeing significantly more overdoses regardless of where we practice,” Carroll adds.

Geographic region also plays a role. Elliott notes that emergency departments in southern states are more likely to see illnesses that affect the elderly, such as chest pain or fractures from falls, since many “snowbirds” head for warmer climates to escape harsh winters in their home states.

Where do emergency nurses work?
The majority of emergency nurses work in the emergency departments of hospitals or medical clinics, but there are a few other work environments you may not have guessed for this nursing specialty.

Emergency nurses can be found working as “Flight nurses, on search and rescue teams, in the film industry as movie medics or in urgent care facilities,” Elliott says. If the prospect of practicing your medical skills in the air or on the set of a Hollywood movie isn’t exciting enough, ER nurses can also serve patients by working on cruise ships. Emergency nurses are particularly well suited for this unique work environment since they’re used to seeing patients with a variety of ailments, according to Carroll.

There are also calmer options for emergency nurses, such as schools or walk-in clinics, where their emergency skills can serve a vital role. “We are particularly valuable if we have emergency department experience and can pick out that one person with symptoms that seem appropriate for a walk-in center but are, in fact, more serious,” Carroll says.

Nurses who specialize in emergency situations are limited only by their own preferences when it comes to choosing a work environment. “I think we could work virtually anywhere,” Elliott says. “ER nurses see and deal with everything.”

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