by Erin Lewis

Created on: June 04, 2009

As a child who loved summer camp, I was saddened when the days of endless forest hikes, campfires, and outdoor explorations with friends were over. I attempted to extend them by becoming a counselor, but as college came and went, it was no longer plausible to spend summers at camp and the responsibilities of adulthood soon took over.

I became a registered nurse and no longer experienced the year-long anticipation of summer vacation. That is, until I discovered camp nursing! After five years of working in pediatrics I decided on a whim that I wanted to live in Colorado for a while. I read an advertisement online for a position at a camp outside of Colorado Springs and within a month I was living at 8,600 feet above sea level in a small cabin on a 6,000 acre camp nestled in the Rocky Mountains.

The first step in pursuing camp nursing is deciding if you are cut out to be a camp nurse. Do you enjoy the outdoors? Do you like children? Are you flexible, easy going, and used to working autonomously? Do you feel comfortable treating something as urgent as a broken neck or something as minor as home sickness? Do you have 4-12 weeks available in the summer that you could spend at camp? Do you mind waking up in the middle of the night with a sick child? Do you have the requirements to become a camp nurse?

Every camp has different job requirements when hiring a nurse. Some want a registered nurse (RN) while others will accept licensed practical nurses (LPN). Some require pediatric experience while others will take new nurses. Many camps have flexible requirements, meaning they list what they ideally would like but if you contact them directly they might wave some of the requirements depending on how urgently they need a nurse.

There are several assets about my professional experience that contributed to the ease of obtaining my first camp nurse job. Though beneficial, they are not all necessarily required for every camp. These assets included: being an RN, having pediatric experience, and being certified in Basic Life Support (BLS), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), and as a Wilderness First Responder (WFR).

At most camps, you will be the only medical professional, the go-to person for every injury and illness no matter how minor and severe. The camp wants to feel that they are hiring someone who is fit to respond to any emergency.

If you think you meet the basic requirements to be a camp nurse, the next

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