Surgical Nurse Education Requirements
Surgical nurses, or medical-surgical nurses (also perioperative and emergency room nurses), care for patients who have been diagnosed with an illness that will require surgery. Surgical nurses can work with patients before and after surgery.
As a whole, the field of nursing continues to grow. The most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics projections indicate that the number of jobs for nurses will increase by 22 percent by 2018. Nurses with specialized training as surgical nurses are likely to have success because of their additional training.
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Degree Requirements
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Perioperative nurses must hold either an associate's or bachelor's degree in nursing. Degree requirements for nurses vary from college to college. Most associate degree programs in nursing require the completion of 65 to 75 credit hours of coursework, including clinical practice in order to provide hands-on training. Nursing students generally complete prerequisite courses in microbiology, human anatomy and physiology, and chemistry before being formally admitted to the nursing program.
The same is true at the bachelor's degree level, for which students usually complete 120 or more credit hours, depending upon the requirements of the specific college or university. Typical nursing courses include studies in nursing fundamentals, human growth and development, biostatistics, nursing pharmacology and maternal-child nursing.
Perioperative Nurse Training
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Nurses who desire to receive credentialing for surgical nursing can take additional training in the field. Training varies widely among schools. Some schools offer emphases in perioperative nursing as part of a degree program, while others offer a certificate that requires additional coursework beyond the degree curriculum.
One example of this latter option is the certificate program offered by Dallas County Community College. Students who pursue this route complete two semesters of study. Applicants must be registered nurses or eligible to take the national licensing exam. Students complete just 10 hours of additional study in two courses in perioperative nursing and two practicums. The courses include studies in operating room procedures, possible complications from surgery, wound-healing and patient preparation.
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Certification
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Certification for surgical nurses is a voluntary process, but it increases the marketability of your resume. Various organizations offer perioperative nursing certification. Most of the organizations have certification criteria that include minimum education requirements, a minimum number of logged hours of clinical work as a medical-surgical nurse and continuing education requirements. For instance, the American Nursing Credentials Center requires 30 hours of continuing education over a three-year span prior to certification.
In any case, a career as a medical-surgical nurse can be very lucrative. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that, as of May 2008, the median salary of surgical nurses was $63,880.
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References
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- Photo Credit surgery image by Andrey Rakhmatullin from Fotolia.com
