The emergency room stabilizes and treats patients with severe and life-threatening medical emergencies, including heart attacks and traumatic injuries. What does an ER nurse do? ER nurses triage, assess, stabilize, and treat patients, including administering medications and fluids.
In the emergency room (ER), nurses specialize in caring for patients with severe and life-threatening medical emergencies. What does an ER nurse do to help these patients with emergent needs? ER nurses must rapidly triage patients, assess them, and provide stabilizing care to save their lives and get them on the road to recovery.
If you’re interested in transitioning to a career in nursing, you may be able to earn your nursing degree in as few as 12 months with the University of St. Thomas (UST) Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program in Houston, Texas. The comprehensive curriculum and applied learning experiences prepare our students for a career in any nursing specialty, including ER nursing.
While you’re planning your career pathway, take a closer look at the typical ER nurse responsibilities before exploring the career requirements and pathway.
What Does the ER Do?
Before diving into what ER nurses do, it can be helpful to understand what happens in the ER. Patients may be brought to the emergency room by ambulance, and some may be unconscious upon arrival. Alternatively, they may walk into the ER of their own accord or be helped by a family member.
Upon arrival, patients in the ER must be triaged, assessed, and stabilized. After receiving treatment in the ER, patients might be discharged and advised to follow up with their primary care provider, or they may be admitted to the hospital for further treatment, including surgery. Essentially, the ER functions as a gateway to the larger healthcare ecosystem.
Whereas an urgent care center treats non-life-threatening conditions, such as ankle sprains and mild to moderate infections, the ER often handles the most severe health conditions, including life-threatening ones.
Patients may be stabilized in the ER for conditions such as:
- Ectopic pregnancy
- Heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular emergencies
- Life-threatening infections, such as sepsis
- Seizures
- Severe allergic reactions and asthma attacks
- Severe fractures
- Traumatic injuries, such as traumatic amputation or internal damage
Severe burns, head injuries, and uncontrolled bleeding are other medical emergencies treated by ER providers.
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What Does an ER Nurse Do?
When a patient arrives at the ER, an ER nurse must rapidly triage them. Triage is a quick evaluation to assess the severity of a patient’s condition and determine whether they require immediate stabilizing care or can wait a little while. Then, ER nurses perform a more thorough patient assessment and stabilize the patient.
Key ER Nurse Responsibilities
Some of the specific ER nurse responsibilities include the following:
- Performing life-saving interventions, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), tracheotomies, and intubations
- Performing wound care, which may include sutures
- Providing patient and family caregiver education
- Requesting diagnostic tests, such as imaging and bloodwork
- Setting broken bones
- Starting intravenous (IV) lines to administer fluids and medications
If the patient is conscious, an ER nurse will ask them questions about their symptoms and health history and add that information to the patient’s chart. Often, ER nurses must rely on medical information relayed by the emergency medical services (EMS) team when a patient is brought to the ER by ambulance.
If a patient can be discharged from the ER, the nurse will counsel the patient on their condition and the recommended treatment and advise them to pursue follow-up care with a primary care provider. Otherwise, an ER nurse will arrange for the patient to be admitted to the hospital. Admitted patients are taken to other departments for ongoing monitoring and care.
Skills Needed to Succeed as an ER Nurse
To fulfill the ER nurse responsibilities, it’s essential to have a blend of clinical and soft skills. Some of the most important clinical skills in the ER include:
- Diagnostic testing and interpretation, including EKGs
- Resuscitation and life support
- Triage and patient assessment
- Vascular access
Some of the most essential soft skills for ER nurses include:
- Ability to remain calm and think clearly under pressure
- Adaptability
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking
- Emotional resilience
- Empathy and compassion
- Teamwork
- Time management
Where Do ER Nurses Work?
ER nurses work in the emergency room, which is typically a department of a larger hospital or medical center. Some ER nurses may work in a standalone emergency department.
What does an ER nurse do in alternative work settings? They might consider roles in any of the following:
- Correctional facilities
- Military facilities
- Poison control centers
- Search and rescue crews
Career Outlook for ER Nurses
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the job growth rate for all types of registered nurses (RNs) is expected to be 6% from 2025 to 2035, which is faster than average for all professions. This indicates that healthcare employers will need to hire about 194,700 new nurses during this time period.
Although the BLS doesn’t track employment data for ER nurses specifically, the overall career outlook can provide a glimpse of what future emergency room nurses might expect.
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Education and Licensure Requirements for ER Nursing
All aspiring ER nurses must earn a nursing degree, such as the University of St. Thomas Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). After graduating, they must pass the NCLEX-RN exam to obtain RN licensure. Nurses can then start looking for jobs in the ER, or they might first gain some experience in urgent care or a similar role.
After gaining experience in the ER, a nurse might decide to enhance their career qualifications with a professional certification. An example is the Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN) credential. There are also certifications available in pediatric emergency nursing, flight emergency nursing, and critical care ground transport nursing.
How to Become an ER Nurse Faster With an ABSN Degree
There are many pathways toward a nursing career. If you already have at least 60 college credits or a completed non-nursing bachelor’s degree, you might not need to return to school for four years to earn a BSN.
UST’s ABSN program allows students to earn a BSN in as few as 12 months. Keep in mind that you may need to complete some prerequisite courses prior to enrolling. This fast-track pathway qualifies you to take the NCLEX-RN licensure exam, after which you can become an ER nurse.
Why Choose Emergency Nursing?
Nurses who choose emergency nursing may do so because they enjoy working in a fast-paced setting as part of a team that includes many different types of healthcare providers. In the ER, every shift brings new challenges. An ER nurse might help stabilize a patient with a gunshot wound, treat and soothe a child with a fracture, and admit a patient with a psychiatric emergency, all on the same shift.
Because patient cases in the ER are so varied, ER nurses enjoy plenty of opportunities to continually expand their nursing knowledge and clinical skills. They also get to work with patients across the lifespan from different walks of life, honoring the dignity of each human person.
What does the ER do for a nurse’s career? After gaining experience in the ER, nurses might decide to transition to a related specialty. ER experience translates well to working in a trauma center or critical care, for example. Other nurses may decide to go to an urgent care center or become flight nurses.
Study Emergency Nursing at UST
If emergency nursing is in your future, you can pursue your new career faster at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. UST’s ABSN program enables you to graduate in as few as 12 months, provided you complete any required prerequisites. With three start dates per year and no waitlist required, you could get started sooner.
Throughout the admissions process, you’ll work one-on-one with your dedicated admissions advisor. While enrolled, you’ll receive personalized support from an Academic Success Coach. Our small class sizes also facilitate close attention from our experienced instructors.
Request information today to learn more about our accelerated nursing program.