I want to be a Hyperbaric nurse

[scubagirl81]

I am very interested in Hyperbaric medicine, especially in relation to diving related injuries. I know this is a tough field to get into, but I am wondering if someone has any advice as to how to get my foot in the door at a facility that offers and specializes in HBO therapy. Should I just try to get into a wound care center initially? I am absolutely willing to relocate, and pursue whatever measures needed to get into this area of nursing. I welcome any and all advice. Thanks

[sirI, MSN, APRN, NP]

Hello, scubagirl81 and Welcome to allnurses.com

Good to have you with us. I moved your thread to the Hyperbaric Nurse forum for a better response.

You might check out the Baromedical Nurses Association . I know that unless you live in an area where there are hyperbaric chambers, you will most likely need to relocate in order to get a nice position.

Here is a link to the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society where you can find listings for chambers in the U.S.

Most individuals who I know are Hyperbaric Technologists, RT's specializing in hyperbaric medicine, and registered nurses who are certified as wound care specialists as well as certified as hyperbaric nurses.

Link to the Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nursing site.

Here is a link regarding certification as hyperbaric nurse and requirements for certification:

http://www.nbdhmt.org/CHRN/chrn-intro.html

Link to the National Board of Diving and Hyperbaric Medical Technology.

Good luck with your goals to become a hyperbaric nurse.

[RN1989]

HBO is utilized more for wound care than anything else. If you don't mind getting into wound care, you might eventually find a position that does more dive work later on. HBO nurse positions are not plentiful.

Since divers are so well trained these days, you just don't find as much dive-related HBO work being done. Usually the US Navy is the way to go if you are interested in HBO for divers.

National Healing is one of the two largest wound care/HBO companies in the country. They are for profit. Please remember this as the way they do things with the goal to make lots of money. They offer large $$ incentives for their clinic manager/directors and some of these people will take things to the limit in order to make the money the company wants. They prefer to hire techs and train them to be chamber operators as they are cheaper than nurses. They will train their nurses who work in very small facilities as it is not cost-effective to hire both a nurse and an HBO tech for a small clinic. Again - wound care/HBO companies are for-profit.

[angiesuave]

I agree with the advice given to you, take the course first. The UHMS website used to keep jobs posted there, you can try that site too. It is a great field, I love it. Wish you luck.