Certifications to get before applying to ER as a GN?

[ItsCheese]

Hi all,

I will be graduating this December and due to my accelerated program, I haven't been able to get certified as an ER tech or CNA during my program to beef up my resume. Apart from my clinical hours, I have no patient care experience. During my final semester I will be getting hours almost exclusively in the ER, which I hope will be enough to get my foot in the door, but I am trying to figure out ways to improve my resume and skill set on the side. I applied to some HHA positions, however, after talking to a few RNs about it, they seem to think it's not worth the effort so close to graduation. This has me looking to certifications, specifically first aid and ACLS. I'm aware that I'll probably already know a lot of what is included in a first aid class, but I feel that nursing school has not fully prepared me to treat a lot of basic injuries in the best way and would like to acquire a more well-rounded skill set for emergency care. NOLS has a wilderness first aid course that I am looking into as well, but I don't know how much anyone looking at my resume would care about that.

Any ideas for other certifications? I would appreciate it if some RNs could weigh in on the usefulness of the ones I've listed in both practice and resume boosting.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

First Aid would be pretty worthless since it's a program designed for "civilians" not health care professionals. Your employer will pay for ACLS if your job requires it.. and it usually is for all ED RNs. You may want to study TNCC - or delve into a prep course for ENA certification. ENA recommends at least 2 years of experience, but (last I heard) it's not a requirement for the certification exam.

Don't bother trying to improve your resume at this point. No one expects new grads to have clinical experience. Any organization willing to hire new grads will have a transition program (residency, internship, etc) for them. Your best bet would be to impress them with evidence of maturity/professionalism, intelligence & high level of motivation.

[ItsCheese]

Thank you for your advice! I'm definitely going to do my research into TNCC, maybe I can get my hands on an ENA certification course book and at least read through it. I guess I'm at the point where I've got to prove I have what it takes and some random tack-ons to my resume aren't going to make a difference.