Urgent Care Nurse Jobs Made Simple: What You Need to Know

Urgent cares need to have nurses 24/7 to provide treatments to emergency patients. A career as an urgent care nurse jobs is both attracting and demanding. 

Nurses who work in different work settings to provide emergency patient services are called Urgent Care Nurse. A senior urgent care nurse can make nearly $88,000 a year in this career path.

If you’re willing to start your career or thinking about a career shift to urgent care nurse jobs. You came to the right place; we at the Royal Recruiter will explain everything you need to know about urgent care nurse jobs.

What is an Urgent Care nursing job?

When someone goes to urgent care facilities for immediate treatment, the professionals who help them figure out their problem and provide medical assistance are urgent care nurses.

Urgent care nurses can work as nurses everywhere in their workplace because they are just like regular registered nurses but specialize in urgent or emergency treatments. 

However, some people think that urgent care nurses also work in intensive care units (ICU) or critical care units (CCU), but they don’t; to work in these sectors, they need additional training and certification to work in ICU or CCU.

What Are The Responsibilities Of Urgent Care Nurse?

Urgent care provides medical care, monitors and determines patients’ health conditions. Urgent care nurses treat those conditions where the patient doesn’t need to go to a hospital or other critical facilities. 

So, what types of physical issues do an urgent care nurse cover? Below we’ve given a list of them: 

• Colds or flu-like symptoms
• Headache or abdominal pains
• Burns
• Animal bites
• Abrasion
• Shortness of breath
• Allergic Reactions
• Broken Bones

As an urgent care nurse, you’ll face problems related to or similar to these categories in your daily work life because people prefer to visit urgent care centers(UCC) as they can get treatment or service instantly without taking prior appointments. 

Urgent care nurses also take collect samples, prescribe medicines, give after-care and drug dose guidance

Where Does An Urgent Care Nurse Work?

Urgent care nurse jobs are available in almost every health care industry, but they mainly work in hospitals, urgent care medical facilities, and walk-in clinics.

And among these three, a large portion of urgent care nurses work in urgent care centers. 

Why? Because according to data published by Statista, more than 9,600 urgent care centers were operating in the United States as of 2019! This means approximately 192 urgent care centers in every state. 

How Much Do Urgent Care Nurse Make?

In the United States, urgent care nurse earns more than ordinary registered nurses. The median salary for fresher urgent care nurses is around $40,000 to $61,000 per year. 

Skilled and experienced urgent care nurses can make an hourly wage of a minimum of $34 to $60, which is equivalent to almost $67,000 to $100,000 a year!

We’ve noticed that the salary range of urgent care nurses varies depending on which state they live in; that’s why we’ve created a list of the states where urgent care nurse jobs pay the highest; 

• Hawaii
• New York
• Washington
• California
• Alabama
• Connecticut
• Maryland
• New Jersey
• Nebraska

How To Become An Urgent Care nurse?

The process of becoming an urgent care nurse is somewhat similar and easy to that of becoming a regular nurse. Let’s get to know what prerequisites are necessary to become an urgent care nurse:

• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN)

The first step you’ve to pass is to complete a bachelor’s in nursing before stepping on the career path as an urgent care nurse. Bachelor’s degree in nursing will take 4 years to complete, and after passing the exam, you’ll be eligible for attending the nursing license exam.

• Associate’s degree in nursing (ADN)

Those who want to take a shortcut and land an urgent care nursing job faster can consider completing an associate degree in nursing (ADN). Usually, it takes TWO years to pursue an associate’s degree in nursing (AND). 

• Become Registered And Get Your License

Finally, after completing your nursing education, whether it’s a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) or Associate’s degree in nursing (ADN), you must attend and pass the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) exam to become a registered urgent care nurse.

The NCLEX-RN exam costs $200; if you fail the first time, worry not; you can sit for the NCLEX-RN exam up to 8 times a year(though most examiners pass on their first attempt). 

• Additional Training or Certificate Course

If you want to master a particular area of urgent care nursing, there are many training and certification opportunities available. For example, if your plan is to become an expert urgent care nurse in broken or fractured bones, you can pursue additional orthopedic and rehabilitation nursing training.

These training and certification courses will increase your career prospects

Skills Of An Urgent Care Nurse

As urgent care nursing job responsibilities aren’t similar to those of regular nurses, individuals with some skills can easily cope with the environment in urgent care nursing jobs.

And most of the time, urgent care nurses develop these skills while being on study or doing on-the-job training. 

• Communication skill

Every urgent care nurse is good at communication because it helps them understand the patient’s condition and find out how the problem surged or occurred. 

Plus, communication skills can turn an urgent care nurse into a good friend of patients. 

• Impulsive

As an urgent care nurse, you’ve to act super fast in every situation because if you fail to come up with solutions promptly, the patient’s health condition could fall or cause severe health damage. 

• Thorough Knowledge Of Urgent Medical Services

You must have extensive knowledge about the most common urgent or emergency health problems, as it’s impossible to predict the patient’s health state until the patient arrives at the facility.

• Electronic health record

Urgent care nurses are or have to be good at maintaining EHR(Electronic Health Record) Because it helps monitor patients’ health conditions, data, prescribe medicine, and many more. 

Finding Urgent Care Nurse Jobs

Urgent care nursing jobs have become famous after the covid-19 pandemic; although there are enough jobs available, but it’s hard to get one due to the competition. 

Contact the Royal Recruiter if you want to get an urgent care nursing job without facing too many hurdles. We’ve been helping individuals get into urgent care nursing and other nursing industries.