New RN.....What kind of certificates can I get?

[prplphnx]

Hi everyone,

I'm a new nurse waiting to get hired on to a hospital but I wanted to know what kind of certificates can an RN get. I'm trying to get into the ER dept and I know that I have to get my ACLS/PCLS and I found out that I have otake another EKG class to be able to take it. I'm going to try and get my critical care certificate but I wanted to know which others I can get. I really want to try and get all of them if possible.

[Aneroo, LPN]

A lot of your certifications will need experience. Besides PALS/ACLS, you might want to wait a year or two before you start to go after some others.

TNCC (trauma) will come in handy, and some people take ENPC (emerg. nurse pediatric course through ENA) instead of PALS.

After you get some experience, instead of doing the critical care certification, go for your CEN. Check out the ENA website for more info on TNCC, ENPC and CEN.

[prplphnx]

Thank you for the information I know it will come very handy...thank you again!

[David13, MSN, RN]

Many nursing certifications have experience requirements such as 1 - 2 years work in the area of certification and/or educational requirements such as a BSN. There should be websites for each area of certification you are considering that will give you the requirements in detail.

[Katnip, RN]

A lot of hospitals give about 6-12 months before you have to take PALS/ACLS so you can get comfortable with the basics first. And by the time you take those courses it will be a lot easier to take and pass the things. Plus, the hospital will pay for them. These aren't cheap.

Make sure you're happy with your specialty choice first as well. A lot of new grads jump right into ER or critical care and find that it's not such a great fit after all.

That said, good luck and welcome to nursing!

[silicaRN]

i passed nlcex rn january, didn't have experience but this hospital allowed me to take classes such as acls,pals, nrp, ekg. comes in handy but i didn't have any experience.