Obtaining a job in the healthcare industry is one of the best career moves that one can make nowadays, because professions in this field are some of the most recession-resistant and high-demand jobs today. One such nursing job is becoming a Medical-Surgical Nurse. Medical-Surgical Nurses begin their careers just like any other group of nurses: by obtaining nursing degrees from accredited universities. If you're interested in online nursing schools, you'll find that many of these programs are convenient and affordable.
If you’re interested in finding out how to become a Medical-Surgical Nurse, read on:
- Know the duties of a Medical-Surgical Nurse. A medical-surgical nurse is a general nurse practitioner who offers basic medical care to in-hospital patients. Some of their duties include the following: obtaining and filing medical histories, observing and recording patient’s vital signs, and giving care before, during and after surgical operations.
- Know what it takes to become a Medical-Surgical Nurse. Those in medical-surgical nursing need to have high stamina to cope with the long hours and the stress that come with working in the healthcare field. One should also have the ability to make quick decisions even during emergency situations, and to have patience and good interpersonal skills.
- Obtain your high school diploma. It’s best to start as early as high school in equipping yourself to work in the healthcare industry. Take subjects and electives in biology, chemistry and physics, as well as in health. During your spare time, you might also want to volunteer at a local hospital, so you could know the ins and outs of the healthcare industry; plus, establishing your contacts this early won’t do any harm.
- Know which undergraduate degrees to take. The most-qualified and most highly compensated Nurses are those who obtained a four-year Bachelor's of Science in Nursing degree. However, there are other popular and practical routes toward becoming a Registered Nurse. One of these is by acquiring an Associate's Degree in Nursing for two years at a community college. Another route is by obtaining a diploma in nursing, in order to become an LPN, or Licensed Practical Nurse. Though all of these routes will train you extensively on the fundamentals of nursing as well as give you hands-on nurse training on nursing procedures, the shorter routes will focus more on the technical aspects of nursing, while the BS degree also offers a lot of theoretical and didactic training on nursing.
- Take a licensing exam. After you graduate from nursing school, your next step is to take and pass a licensing exam administered by a nationally-recognized governing board. In the U.S., the nursing exam is the NCLEX-RN examination.
- Acquire at least two years' experience as a Registered Nurse. Most areas in the nursing profession require their nurses to acquire one to two years experience as a general Nurse before they can specialize as a medical-surgical nurse. Most entry-level Nurses are assigned to the intensive or critical care units of hospitals so they can get used to the fast pace of the industry.
- Get continuing education. You’ll need to get training as a Medical-Surgical Nurse before you can specialize. Training usually lasts for 30 hours. Apart from this training, you should have at least 2,000 hours, or one year, experience in medical-surgical nursing.
- Get certified. To finish your credentials, it’s best that you get your Medical Surgical Nursing Certification. In the U.S., certification is granted by the Medical Surgical Nurses Certification Board.
These are just some of the steps toward becoming a Medical-Surgical Nurse. We hope your nurse career will be very rewarding.