Emergency Nurse Job Description and Related Degrees

Emergency nursing careers begin with pursuing the right educational path. Depending on a person's state and its regulations, he or she can even begin pursuing a nursing career while this individual is still in high school. In fact, many juniors and seniors in high school take vocational courses that allows them to seek work certified as a nurse's assistant. Many college nursing programs require that students obtain this preliminary certification before they begin their formal studies in nursing.

Once they begin your college-level courses, nursing students can expect to undertake a range of studies. Courses will include topics from human anatomy, physiology, organic chemistry, and pharmacology, among others. The first few semesters of school will consist primarily of classroom lectures and examinations. Students will progress to practicing their skills on dummy models and each other. In fact, many nursing students report practicing taking vital signs like blood pressure and temperature readings on their fellow students. They may even practice drawing blood on both dummies and live volunteers.

As they near the end of their formal programs, students can expect to undergo a clinical experience off campus. Many of these experiences take place in hospitals, medical clinics, or doctors' offices. There, they will work with actual patients while being supervised closely by a nurse manager or a physician. This experience may last for several weeks to allow the nursing student to hone his or her medical knowledge and skills. They often write lengthy reports about this experience for their class.