Travel Burn Care Nurse Jobs

As of Tuesday, December 3rd 2024, Vivian has 14 Staff Nursing jobs listed. These jobs pay $44 per hour on average, with the highest-paying job listed up to $49 per hour.

Take a look at Vivian's Travel Burn ICU Nurse Career Guide for more information, including required education, responsibilities, pros and cons and more.

Burn ICU nurses are registered nurses who specialize in providing emergency burn care to patients who’ve sustained traumatic burn injuries caused by fire, hot liquids, chemicals, or electricity. BICU nurses can expect to treat a wide range of patients across all ages suffering from various types of burns and possibly other severe injuries that occurred simultaneously.

Severe burns usually require initial care in a specialized ICU of a burn center, but emergency care may be initially provided in an emergency department or any ICU, depending on a medical facility’s protocol and the patient’s condition. When initial stabilization begins in the emergency department, it continues in the BICU where BICU nurses care for patients who may need mechanical ventilation, aggressive fluid resuscitation, cardiac or other hemodynamic monitoring, or meticulous observation for multisystem organ failure. Patients spend an average of one-half to one full day per percent of total body surface area burned in the BICU. During this time, the duties of a BICU nurse may include:

Burn ICU nurses are often employed in stand-alone burn care centers or the burn care units within a hospital or medical center. They may also work in a medical facility’s intensive care unit, emergency department, or trauma center. The military may employ burn ICU nurses at military hospital burn centers in the United States or other countries, or as part of a Burn Flight Team (https://usaisr.amedd.army.mil/burncenter_smartteam.html), transferring military personnel who sustained severe burn trauma overseas to the USAISR Burn Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Good BICU nurses have sharp clinical skills that include triage, critical care, fluid balance, wound and pain management, and stabilization for acutely burned patients. Patients with severe burn injuries often present with other types of severe trauma, so successful BICU nurses also have comprehensive skills in numerous nursing specialties. They’re extremely knowledgeable in the use of numerous types of equipment and techniques to monitor, treat, and ventilate burn patients and are well-acquainted with Advanced Trauma Life Support guidelines for assessment and stabilization. Successful BICU nurses have an extremely high level of compassion and empathy to effectively handle the emotional and psychological effects traumatic burns have on patients and their families.

Becoming a burn ICU travel nurse requires an RN license. Obtaining RN licensure requires an Associate Degree in Nursing or a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and passing the NCLEX-RN licensing exam. Since BICU nursing is specialized, most employers prefer applicants with a BSN and additional training and certifications.

Burn ICU may hold Basic Life Support (BLS), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), Advanced Burn Life Support (ABLS) or Certification in Acute/Critical Care Nursing - Adult (CCRN-Adult), among others.