ICU Nurse
With the current economy, finding high-demand and well-paying jobs can be difficult. Times like these make many decide to go back to college to finish their degree or switch careers. It’s no secret that medical careers are among the most prestigious and dependable jobs you can get.
An ICU nurse, also known as a critical care nurse, is an individual that cares for critically ill or unstable patients. These patients can vary from newborns to adults. Depending on the type of patient care provided, they will handle duties such as monitoring vital signs, diaper changes, wound dressing or a number of other specialized needs of the patient. As with any job in the medical field, this one comes with a great deal of stress. Being able to handle stressful situations is important in deciding if this is a field you would like to go into. On the same note, the stress that comes with being an ICU nurse is part of the reward you can gain from it. Knowing you have made a real difference in a sick person’s life can make the stress worth it.
How Do I Become An ICU Nurse?
If being an ICU nurse sounds like the kind of career you would like to pursue, there are a few steps you need to take for your education. The first step is training to become a registered nurse. Depending on the hospital, some RN’s will be given an ICU nursing position immediately, while others may require years of internship.
In the US, nurses are able to obtain a certification in critical care nursing through a national advisory board. This board, known as the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, sets and maintains the standards for ICU nursing.
Remember, before you can take any of these steps, you need to go back to college. You will need a degree as an RN to start any of the above mentioned steps. Most adults find returning to school a very difficult prospect. Time, family, and work can all get in the way of finding a schedule that works with school. Fortunately, there are ways to balance all of these and still get your degree.
Online colleges, or colleges that have online courses, have become extremely popular over the last few years. Online courses are not like correspondence courses, which were all done through the mail. With an online course you simply log into a web page, get your assignments, and set your schedule to have the assignments completed by the deadline set by the instructor.
Make sure you do your research for this career path as you may need to do some lab work. If that is the case, find an online school that has a lab somewhere close to you with varied hours. Many community colleges offer both classroom and online courses, so this may be a great place to start. At the same time, University of Phoenix and similar colleges offer local campuses for courses like these.
Finding time to return to school in our busy world can be a difficult process, but with online classes you may be surprised how much easier it will be to find the time to train to be an ICU nurse.
