Hyperbaric Nurses present?

[BellionRN]

Hello! I've done a search for information on hyperbaric nursing here on allnurses.com, and while the posts were helpful, they were mostly from 8+ years ago, so I'm posting here to see if I can get some more information.

I am debating applying for a hyperbaric nursing position. I came across the posting and my interest was piqued ... however it's been difficult for me to research the role of the RN in hyperbaric nursing.

If there are some hyperbaric nurses present, I'd love to hear about your typical day ... how long the average treatments are, what sort of role you play (monitoring, intervening in critical events, etc.?), any negative physical effects you have experienced ... anything really you feel is important to share, I would certainly appreciate.

Thanks in advance for your expertise and time!

[sirI, MSN, APRN, NP]

Hello,

Here is an Article written about a year ago that you might find helpful:

Hyperbaric Nursing

[BellionRN]

Yes I read that. Thank you sirl :)

[sirI, MSN, APRN, NP]

I figured you did, but wanted to point it out just in case.

This is a highly specialized field of nursing. Hopefully others will come along and help you.

Good luck.

[BellionRN]

Thank you! I appreciate it!

[HyperbaricRN]

I am a Clinical Nurse Manager for a large wound care organization. We mainly have techs do the HBO treatments but we have an RN on duty while the procedure is going on. To be honest, most HBO facilities have nurses to supervise while a tech does most of the leg work. We (nurses) don't really do anything special, mainly are present to problem solve if issues arise during the treatments. As a nurse unless you are diving in a large multi chamber you would not be doing much. If your specific company requires RNs to do the teching there will not be much to challenge you mentally and to further your practice in my honest opinion.

Treatments take around 150 mins a day. Patients are required to come 5 days a week for a total of 20-30 treatments depending on the severity of their issue. Our center has 2 chambers so we can dive 4 people a day. Its a good job and a very specific field of nursing. So with specialized training you can be compensated well.

[BellionRN]

Thank you for your reply HyperbaricRN.

Unfortunately there wouldn't be any compensation as the posting only specified only critical care training as a qualification, which I already have and don't get any extra pay!

Thank you so much for this information! It helped clear things up for me a little. And I actually ended up deciding against applying for the job and took a position in PACU instead ... And from what you've said here, I think I'm happy with my decision!

Thanks!