CEN

Specialties Emergency

Published

How long should someone work in Emergency medicine before sitting for the exam? Also, I work in an inner city 22 bed urgent care, do you think urgent care nurses should be able to take the exam? I struggle with whether I am even qualified. Thanks in advance.

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Specializes in Emergency Room, Trauma ICU.

It's usually recommended you work a year before taking the exam, but it's not required. If you work in an urgent care and not an ER it may not be relevant to your job.

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We don't see nearly as much as the ER but we do get a lot of patients that are inappropriate for the UC. I was thinking of sitting for it so that I could eventually move into an ER position. Also, it would force me to learn more.

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Specializes in Emergency Room, Trauma ICU.

The number of pts you see doesn't really matter. Bottom line is there is a huge huge difference between an urgent care and an ER. Anyone can take the test, but please realize it doesn't make you an ER nurse or give you ER experience.

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I very much realize it doesn't make me an ER nurse I was just interested in increasing my knowledge in emergency medicine.

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

It depends more on your knowledge than your experience, I think. I would study a book, like Sheehy's Manual. Having the real world perspective would help but is not necessary. Your ER and location will shape your experience, and it probably won't be well rounded. I took the exam before I had ever worked in the ER, but I had about 10 years paramedic experience at the time. This covered all my trauma and a lot of medical problems, and my nursing training filled in the rest.

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

You don't have to have any experience, and it's really just a lot of studying. I bought boswell's, some CEN test books and Sheehys.

Good luck to you! :) Hope it helps you score and ER job!

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Specializes in Emergency/ICU.

Your urgent care experience will help you a good bit if you are doing splints, basic pediatric conditions, STD's, fractures, and skin conditions. There were several questions about such things. Study the rest. If you are a good studier/test taker, you should do fine.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Two years of time is recommended, but not required. I had been an ED RN for 10 months when I took the exam and passed, but I also had nearly 4 years as an ED Tech and had been a paramedic for 6 years. CEN study is a great way to learn. :)

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