Do you want to become an oncology nurse? Find out the average salaries by state and some tips on how to earn even more. Nursing offers continuous professional advancements, along with educational opportunities, increased responsibilities, work experience and credentials. Location determines how much cancer nurses earn, and there are four ways to increase wages. Certifications show that a nurse has experience in a specific area of the field, such as oncology, pediatric hematology, breast care, or blood marrow transplant.
Becoming a certified nurse requires work experience throughout clinical hours and a passing score on a certification exam. Executive-level nurses work in offices and have no direct patient care tasks. Nurse administrators typically complete supervised administrative experience while earning MSN degrees. Graduate students can often gain hands-on experience taking concentrations in specialty areas such as oncology.
Oncology nurses provide preventive and treating care. They also deliver diagnoses while collaborating with doctors and nurse practitioners. Helping terminally ill patients in hospitals, cancer clinics, and hospices requires compassion and the ability to manage stressful situations. In addition, nurses who administer chemotherapies and biotherapies must be chemo-bio certified.
Studies indicate that cancer nurses have high levels of work stress. Despite the drawbacks, cancer nursing also offers many rewards, allowing nurses to develop lasting relationships with patients and their families. States generally require a national certification to become an APRN. Nurses can receive board certification from the National Certification and Recertification Board for Nurse Anesthetists or the American Midwifery Certification Board. As an oncology nurse, you will also need a minimum of 500 hours of clinical practice, which will qualify you for the certification exam you must take for this position.
However, to be eligible for the Oncology Nursing Certification, students must complete 50 contact hours. In many work environments, oncology nurses will learn safety precautions regarding the care of patients undergoing procedures and treatments where there is potential exposure to radiation and toxic substances. If you want to become a nurse specializing in oncology, you will also need a master's degree in nursing. The salary you earn as a cancer nurse will vary depending on your experience, the company you work for, and the state in which you live. Due to the variety of programs and the fact that individual nursing careers and careers take a variety of forms, the top 10 cancer nursing programs are not ranked in any particular order. In addition to their patient-care responsibilities, oncology nurses also act as managers, researchers, and consultants.
An Ivy League school with some of the most respected graduate nursing programs in the country, Yale University's MSN with a concentration in oncology allows nurses to combine a nursing specialization with oncology. The ONCC provides a convenient online tool that helps you calculate if you have enough oncology nursing experience to sit for a certification exam. Oncology is a challenging field in which nurses support patients, families, and caregivers through the stress of diagnosis and treatment, and the anxiety of many uncertainties brought on by the disease, including mortality. Adult oncology specialty certificate is expensive but includes 250 hours of clinical experience. Learn more about cancer nursing by searching the web and talking to nurses currently working in the field.
The program also connects students with oncology nurse mentors which could help nurses find their next position. Cancer nurses can also specialize as hospice nurses, geriatric nurses, pediatric oncology nurses or research nurses. The oncology nurse has the opportunity to grow both professionally and personally forming deep and trusting relationships with patients and their families over time. However Columbia offers students flexibility allowing them to choose a specialization in pediatric or adult oncology.
