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Emergency room registered nurses, or RNs, perform a wide range of tasks in a number of different health care facilities. People in this profession are responsible for educating and treating patients, as well as providing emotional support to patients and their families. Though registered nurses can work anywhere from a patient's home to a school, an emergency room RN is restricted to hospitals and health care centers equipped with emergency facilities.

The duties of registered nurses will vary greatly depending on their specific work setting. Emergency room RNs may be called upon to manage the emergency room and make quick decisions for specific patients' treatments. They will most likely assess injuries or illness and work with a doctor and other health care professionals to stabilize patients.

Career paths and salaries of emergency room RNs

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were 2.6 million registered nurses employed in the United States in 2010. The mean annual salary of registered nurses in 2010 was $67,720 a year. The top 10 percent made a median annual wage of $95,130 a year.

According to BLS, registered nurses working at a general, medical or surgical hospital had an average emergency room RN salary in 2010 of $68,610. Nurses in even more specialized and competitive industries, such as medical equipment and supplies manufacturing, earned a median annual salary of $74,930 in 2010.

Location can also affect an emergency room RN salary. States with the highest paying salaries include:

• California
• Texas
• New York
• Florida
• Pennsylvania

According to 2010 ACCRA figures supplied by the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, California and New York are among the top seven most expensive states when it comes to cost of living. The following metropolitan areas are among the highest paying locations when it comes to mean annual salary versus relative cost of living:

• Minneapolis-St Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis.: $75,810
• Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas: $71,700
• Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill. metropolitan division: $71,010
• Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas: $67,940

Requirements for an emergency room RN

There are typically three different paths you can follow in the pursuit of a registered nursing career. You can acquire a bachelor's degree, an associate degree or a diploma from an approved registered nursing program. There are also a number of programs that provide partial RN training online. You would still be required to do clinical work in pursuit of your registered nursing designation.

In all states, students must graduate from an approved nursing program and pass a national licensing examination in order to become a registered nurse. Some must then perform a certain amount of hands-on training before they become an emergency room registered nurse.

Career outlook for an emergency room RN

Throughout the country, job opportunities in most sectors for registered nurses are expected to be excellent. Employment of RNs is expected to increase 22 percent from 2008 to 2018, according to the BLS.

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