Rehabilitation Nurse

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i was interested in physical therapy in the past and i love fitness. Although looking into nursing i saw the endless opportunities and the demand. I was just wondering if a rehabilitation nurse does the same thing as a physical therapist or close to it? thank you

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Specializes in Government.

I've been a certified rehab nurse (CRRN) for 17 years. I love rehab nursing but it is definitely not physical therapy. If you love the field of PT, go for it.

Rehab nursing is the assessment and support fo the patient during the rehab process from stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury etc. Overall physical stability, medication management, teaching, overseeing self cares etc....that's very much our role. A huge role for the rehab nurse is implimenting and documenting a bowel and bladder program as well as managing skin integrity. The PT/OTR team are the experts who work with mobility, adaptive equipment and physical progress assessments. They tend to be M-F day shift and the RN staff are 24/7. That alone makes a huge difference.

This is a very simplistic thumbnail. I did know people who wanted to be PTs but became rehab RNs thinking it would be "about the same". It is very much not. Good luck to you!

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thank you. Do you know any nurses that went into cardiac rehab?

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Specializes in Government.

I don't know anyone in cardiac rehab, sorry. That tends to fall outside of most of the physical/brain injury rehab programs I've worked with.

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Specializes in Home Care, Hospice, OB.

rehab nursing is the assessment and support fo the patient during the rehab process from stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury etc. overall physical stability, medication management, teaching, overseeing self cares etc....that's very much our role. !

and it continues in the community--all the nurses in our hh agency have to be crrn or willing to sit for it within 2 years. i am headed to indianapolis next week for the review, and will sit for boards in december!:nurse:

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thats fine. do you know any specialty nurse titles that deal more with physical acivity? i was just wondering.

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Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.

There are numerous areas of rehab nursing, including cardiac. Cardiac rehab nurses usually have a background in cardio-thoractic nursing, including open heart, CCU, ICU, telemetry, and post beds. There are also nurses who do neuro rehab, ortho rehab, GI rehab, to name a few.

Woody:twocents:

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