Alarms are buzzing, lights are flashing, people are screaming, but to an ER nurse, it is just another day at the office. The room is quiet, the air conditioning is crisp, and the time clock is still running. This is the life of a home care nurse. There are differences in atmosphere but the same degree and the same job on paper and in hearts of both kind. In the nursing field due to the variance in salary, the amount of training, and weekly shifts, emergency room nurses and home care nurses are on complete different ends of the nursing spectrum.
While all nurses obtain a certain hourly wage, the comparison of the emergency room nurse and home care nurse are vastly different. Emergency room nurses are considered to be clinical nurse specialists for their combination of specialized expertise and experience. These nurses make anywhere between sixty five thousand at the lower end of the pay roll, all the way up to one hundred and ten thousand dollars a year. This salary is given to these individuals due to the high stress and a high need to retain and use vital skills in a short period of time. Unfortunately for home care nurses, their hourly pay wage will average far less than those in the ER. The national average wage for home care health aids is approximately nine dollars and eleven cents to start off. They are in a much calmer atmosphere and they don’t need as much skill to work in this position. The vast amount home care nurses are just there to take care of the patient while the family members are away from them. This wide range of salary difference is due to the fact that the two nursing fields deal with completely different situations causing them to have a greater level of skills and in turn a lesser wage.
When it comes to training in both of these positions, the emergency room nurses are required to take an emergency nurse pediatric course and a trauma nursing core course to better prepare them for the unlimited scenarios that may find there way in at any given time. Certain colleges now have a specific program for people in the nursing profession that wish to specialize in the emergency room. This type of nursing is very fast paced with the patients are in and out hourly. They do not really have time to form relationships with the patients or their families. While the ER training changes variably and must be constantly refreshed, the home care nursing is approximately a one time, one hundred fifty hour, training period with few variations in both technique and application. This time frame is nowhere near the requirement for ER nurses. Also, the home care nurses are trained for a more in home atmosphere as opposed to a hospital or clinic. Specialization is not required due to the basic nursing skills learning throughout school and their main objective consisting of execution of basics and most importantly the comfort of their in-home patients. Oddly enough, their nursing skills sometimes tend to be set aside as home care nurses are often presented to due household chores for their patients, as well as errands, paperwork, and more personal interaction. Due to their constant interaction with patients, homecare nurses form bonds and relationships not only with their patient, but with their patient’s family not seen in the emergency room setting. Complex to ER nurses, the simplistic nature of forming relationships with patients for homecare nurses is an unspoken qualification that emergency room nurses seem to tuck away due to the constant new situations and patients that they encounter on a daily basis. There is no time for bonding within the walls of the emergency room. Even though they may graduate with the same degree, it takes a different kind of nurse to be within either type of situation.
Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm, is a good assumption for the common worker. This schedule is unheard of in the nursing world. Emergency room nurses can work over twelve