What Is a Substance Abuse Nurse?

What Is a Substance Abuse Nurse?

Advanced Nursing 2021

A substance abuse nurse, sometimes referred to as an addiction nurse, specializes in the treatment of patients addicted to drugs, alcohol or other substances. Substance abuse nurses are trained in mental health in addition to general medicine. They provide pain management, education for patients and caregivers about the dangers of substance abuse and emotional support to patients in crisis.

Becoming a Substance Abuse Nurse

As with other nursing careers, the first step in becoming a substance abuse nurse is to complete an Associate's Degree in Nursing or Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree to gain a general nursing education. For aspiring addiction nurses, elective courses in mental health will be particularly important. Once a nurse has completed schooling, they must pass the NCLEX-RN exam. From there, an RN may begin work as a substance abuse nurse. Once a nurse has completed 2,000 hours of professional nursing experience in the substance abuse sector and 30 hours of continuing education related to addictions nursing within the last three years, he or she may sit for the Certified Addictions Registered Nurse (CARN) certification exam offered by the International Nurses Society on Addictions. While not required for all substance abuse nursing positions, the CARN certification communicates a nurse's commitment to substance abuse nursing to prospective employers.

A typical job posting for a substance abuse nurse position would likely include the following qualifications, among others specific to the type of employer and location:

• ADN or BSN degree and valid RN license
• Ability to make safe judgment calls in patient care
• Strong communication skills for educating patients and their families about the dangers of substance abuse and their treatment options
• Proficiency in computer programs and data entry for maintaining patient records
• Experience in mental health and/or addiction preferred
• Caring and professional demeanor with compassion for patients struggling with addiction

What Are the Education Requirements for Substance Abuse Nurses?

Substance abuse nurses are generally required to have completed an ADN or BSN degree and to hold a valid RN license in the state in which they plan to practice. A higher nursing degree is usually not required, but elective courses in mental health and addiction are critical for nurses interested in pursuing a career in substance abuse nursing.

Are Any Certifications or Credentials Needed?

While not required for most substance abuse nursing positions, RNs who wish to specialize in addiction nursing may consider becoming a Certified Addiction Registered Nurse. The International Nurses Society on Addictions sponsors this exam, which is open to RNs who have completed 2,000 hours of professional experience in substance abuse nursing and 30 hours of continuing education related to addictions nursing within the last three years. This certification offers RNs a competitive edge when seeking employment or advancement as a substance abuse nurse.

Where Do Substance Abuse Nurses Work?

Substance abuse nurses work with patients and their families in a variety of settings, including:

1. Mental health clinics
2. Psychiatric wards in hospitals
3. Inpatient or outpatient substance abuse treatment facilities

What Does a Substance Abuse Nurse Do?

A substance abuse nurse provides direct patient care to individuals struggling with substance abuse and addiction. They assist physicians in developing treatment plans, perform patient assessments, monitor a patient's progress and administer medications and pain management services. An important aspect of substance abuse nursing is mental health and emotional support services. Substance abuse nurses often conduct mental health screenings and provide emotional support for patients and their families during treatment. They also educate patients and their loved ones about the dangers of substance abuse and provide resources and information about the various treatment options for addiction. 

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7 Effective Study Strategies for Nurses

                                         7 Effective Study Strategies for Nurses

                                                    

You study to get into nursing school, you study while you’re there, and you’ll study for the NCLEX to get out and get a job. Nursing school is all about studying! While it’s no one’s favorite activity, effective study techniques are vital to your success as a nursing student and a working nurse. Instead of getting frustrated by the books, be kind to yourself and focus on healthy study habits.

1. Make a study plan.

Before diving into your books, make a plan. Review your class syllabi and mark each of your exam dates on your calendar. Keeping an updated planner is essential to staying on track with assignments. Be sure to spread out the work, and plan time each week to complete your readings and workload. Having a solid plan to follow can also help you avoid burnout.

Your future self will thank you!

2. Calendar your time.

Stick to your study plan and know how to manage your time. Set aside specific hours each day and week to focus solely on studying. When you’re studying, actually study. No more multitasking. When you have an end time set for your study session, it’s easier to focus and use that time wisely.

Your planner or calendar will keep you on track, but try to do a little studying every day, even if it’s just 15 minutes. This helps you form good habits and retain information. But most importantly, plan—yes, plan—your downtime. When your mind knows that a time for relaxation is ahead, it helps you stay focused when it’s needed most.

3. Form a study group.

Everyone studies differently, but everyone can also benefit from a study group. We all have different strengths, so instead of forming a group with just your best friends, mix it up. Make sure you have students with a variety of skills and expertise. Aside from the academic help, studying with others builds in encouragement and support. You’re all in this together. (Plus, the connections you make in nursing school will only benefit you in your future career.)

4. Know your learning style.

When sitting down on your own for some textbook learning, it’s important to know your personal learning style. How do you best retain information? Are you an auditory learner? A visual learner? Should you take notes as you read? Or highlight and revisit later? What about both? Hardly anyone learns just by reading the textbook once.

5. Forget memorizing, focus on comprehending.

Even if you’re a stellar student, recalling vast amounts of data can be difficult. Whether you’re keeping track of anatomy terms, a long list of symptoms, or medication side effects, brute force memorization often doesn’t cut it. Instead, focus on truly understanding the info. Ask yourself questions about it and try explaining it out loud. The key to learning is comprehension and association. This will serve you better in the long run, and help you more come exam time.

6. Reward yourself and take breaks.

As contrary as it sounds, study breaks can be just as important as studying. Your brain can’t take in too much information at once, especially when you’re stressed about a test tomorrow. Cut yourself some slack and add some balance back to your life. Did you finish that study guide? It’s time to take a break from the books and go have a snack.

7. Don’t forget about the patients.

No one goes into nursing because they want to study 24/7. But while you’re in school, it may feel like all you do is study and work. Fight nursing student burnout by focusing on why you’re becoming a nurse: to help the patients! Maintaining a positive mentality will keep you on track with your schoolwork while making it more enjoyable. None of your professors are trying to torture you, they’re just trying to prepare you for the real nursing world ahead.

For More Details About Advanced Nursing 2021, visit: https://nursing.nursingmeetings.com/

Clinical Differences between your BSN and MSN – Guest Post

Clinical Differences between your BSN and MSN – Guest Post

Advanced Nursing 2021, Tokyo, Japan

Let’s start out on a positive note, which is rare for me because my sense of humor is dark and drier than the saltines locked up by Dietary because the nurses were eating too many.  I love nurse practitioners.  They are adaptable, dependable, and their education opens up a world of possibilities and knowledge that doesn’t exist at the BSN level.  Like CRNAs, the skill and finesse they learn in school elevates caring to an art form.  Sometimes it’s a lot of fun! But, on the healthcare hierarchy totem pole, graduate students are still a bug trapped underneath the pole.  Clinical sites evaluate them much more closely and lord more power over them than in nursing school.  When it came to the hands-on, manage-the-patient-as-if-you-were-a-nurse part of nursing clinicals, I was about as skilled as this guy.

It took a long time for anyone to notice because I had a 4.0 and could answer any question thrown at me.  With an MSN, the bar is much higher.  You need to start performing on Day One rather than blunder through a three month orientation trying not to kill anyone at your first job.  The closer scrutiny on clinical results is necessary and rewarding, but there are two major ironies for CRNA and NP students to accept.  There are a lot of fabulous things too, but those aren’t as interesting to write about.  The first irony is that you are paying money to make other people money–sometimes while being treated poorly.  An example is the anesthesiologist resident being supervised remotely while sedating for colonoscopies, except that he makes enough to buy Ramen while the nurse anesthesia student does not.  The second is that although you occasionally generate the same level of notice and respect that Housekeeping does, whether your clinicals are at a small office or a large hospital, some of your preceptors will be intensively interested in your personal life.

Watch out for bullying

Identifying psychotic preceptors is an invaluable tool as a graduate student.  My site on bullying and corporate wellness can help with some of this.  Who can you trust?  Programs with multiple clinical sites have a liaison between the school and the program, although that doesn’t automatically mean anything.  Find out from students who have been to that clinical site before, although they may be more loyal to advance practice nurses at an institution than they will be to you.  Seniors may be after a job or desperately want to please someone at the site with juicy information about a new student.  At this point, you may suspect I’m a suspicious sourpuss.  I’m actually embarrassingly gullible and tend to see the best in people rather than their glaring faults, which is why advice like this was so helpful for me.  And really, you should be treating everyone as well as you can.  Not two-faced or disingenuous, but the way you want to be treated.  The simpler you can keep your clinical relationships, the more you can concentrate on doing well clinically instead of the petty drama that some people live for.  I know it doesn’t sound like it, but I found clinicals tremendously more fun and interesting the second time around.

Trying to understand expectations between preceptors

Once you do find trustworthy preceptors that have your best, long-term interests in mind and really want to help, try new things and work on your clinical weaknesses with them.  As a new student, skills like arterial and central line placement or intubating with a new type of blade or equipment are good examples.  Even discovering your deficits may seem bewildering.  One preceptor will compliment you on your critical thinking and the next may berate you for the exact same thought process.  Understand that many of the brilliant preceptors who ask you highly specialized and difficult questions only have a handful of them that are meant to stump you, unless they’ve been reading textbooks between patients.  Often there’s a strong correlation between a fixation with antibiotics or airway or amiodarone dosing and a terrible mistake they once made.  Even if an outcome is one in a million, if it happens to your patient, you’ll pay special attention to it in every subsequent case until you retire (or receive adequate therapy).

Prioritize your emotional wellbeing

As a last side note, would extensive counseling help you survive and perhaps even thrive in graduate school?  The answer is yes.  Of course, if you had the time and money for counseling during school, you probably wouldn’t really need it.  Similar to training your brain how to study, resilience is one of the most important skills you should master.  This is quite different than stubbornness, which can be evidenced clinically as trying that spinal for a sixth time instead of just changing your inflexible plan.  In the future, we will talk much more about emotional help on FreshNP.com and how to build a healthy, balanced support system that doesn’t suck or suck your loved ones dry.  Although it helps to stay close to home instead of leaving everyone you know for that perfect school hundreds of miles away, I’ve been asked if it’s better to be a nurse at a facility before becoming a nurse practitioner or anesthesia student.  Can you step out of the shadow of your old job?  An incompetent student will still have major problems six months into a program, even if everyone loves her. 

What do you think? How do your NP clinicals compare to nursing school, or how do you expect them to differ? 

For More About Advanced Nursing 2021, visit: https://nursing.nursingmeetings.com/

Four Interesting Facts about Registered Nurses Every Nursing Student Should Know

 

Four Interesting Facts about Registered Nurses Every Nursing Student Should Know

Advanced Nursing 2021 at Tokyo, Japan on August 16-17,2021

There's no chance you haven't interacted with a nurse in your entire lifetime. Have you ever visited a hospital? Have you ever got home care because of an accident or illness? If not, once in a while, you must have surely visited at least one medical clinic or you must have called a health care hotline.

Meanwhile, the following three designations are the most common designations you must have heard of- Registered Nurse (RN), A Nurse Practitioner (NP) or a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN).

Down here, we are going to reveal some interesting facts about registered nurses that every nursing student should know.

Fact #1: Registered nurses may have a degree of 2-8 years.

Two years of study and a registered nurse is not only graduate, but also able to support her/his family. Further, once you get into the profession, you can study more, and sometimes, the hospital might be financing your studies too.

Fact #2: Many make more money than you'll ever know.

For a fact, most of the registered nurses earn an average of $20-$38 dollars an hour. Can you imagine? The fact does not end here. There are very rare chances a registered nurse earns less than that. On the other hand, the chances of a nurse to earn more money than that are common.

Fact #3: Registered Nurses can also be doctors.

Have you heard of nursing instructors? Well, any registered nurse can get a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) or a Doctorate in Nursing practice (DNP). A nurse can be a doctor.

Fact #4: Nurses are in demand everywhere

In Canada, there are 360,000 of nurses regulated to work. Undoubtedly, there's no chance you haven't met one. Do you know the reason? The more the settings, the more is the need of a nurse.

These days, a nurse can choose over not seeing a blood ever or enjoying the little adrenaline rush by opting to become a flight nurse. Do you want to take care of elderly people? You can become a Geriatric Nurse. There's a wide range of nursing courses a nurse can choose from.

For participating Advanced Nursing 2021 at Tokyo, Japan, visit: https://nursing.nursingmeetings.com/