A few questions.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

I would love to break into the camp nursing world sometime in my nursing pathway. I do believe, for personal reasons, I will wait until I have my BSN (currently working on it). I have a few questions though:

1. Is there a special "certification" required to do camp nursing?

2. Is a background made up primarily of M/S nursing adequate to do it?

3. If one were to do this, sparingly of course, on a voluntary basis.....would I be diminishing opportunities for others to gain employment?

4. Is there such a thing as full camp nursing?

Thanks in advance for your input.

[lawrencenurse]

I would love to break into the camp nursing world sometime in my nursing pathway. I do believe, for personal reasons, I will wait until I have my BSN (currently working on it). I have a few questions though:

1. Is there a special "certification" required to do camp nursing?

Nope - all you need is the license of the state the camp is located in or a compact license if the state belongs to the nursing compact. There are some Camp Nursing training classes offered and those might be helpful.

2. Is a background made up primarily of M/S nursing adequate to do it?

Yes, but it helps to have some experience with children. Sometimes just being a parent is sufficient to provide enough background. A lot depends on how remote the camp is and how hard it is to have campers seen by a doctor. If your camp has an MD who regularly rounds then a m/s background is perfect. However, in my practice setting, I am at least 30 minutes from emergency medical care and my NP only visits once a week so I have to be sure in my implementation of standing orders. Its been hard for nurses who have no pedi experience to get used to that type of setting.

3. If one were to do this, sparingly of course, on a voluntary basis.....would I be diminishing opportunities for others to gain employment?

Depends on the camp. My camp wouldn't take a volunteer nurse unless you were to primarily job shadow for experience. We don't have the living quarters to accommodate additional adult staff who do not live with campers. We pay our nurses and pay well. You should take pride in your skills and be paid for them. Some camps do a trade for free camp for your kids.

4. Is there such a thing as full camp nursing? Yes-and its an area that I have considered. Check out the job postings on the American Camping Association website and sometimes they will list full time camp nurse jobs. I've been tempted by several but I live the good life with school nursing during the winter and camp during the summer.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Hope that helps - don't be too scared by camp nursing. Most camps provide a lot of support to their nurses and treat them really well.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

Thanks so much for the input. Camp nursing definitely sounds more and more like something I want to do.

[teeniebert, LPN]

I live the good life with school nursing during the winter and camp during the summer.

You have my dream job(s)!