Thinking about becoming a GI nurse?
GI nursing, also called endoscopy nursing, is one of the specialty areas of nursing you can go and work in.
It’s also one I know pretty well. I spent almost five years working as a GI nurse before I went back to school to become a nurse practitioner.
When people say GI nurse, that can mean a couple of different things. Some GI nurses work primarily in a clinic setting, kind of like a primary care office.
That’s not what this article is about. I’m focusing on the procedure side, because that’s really what people think about when they think about GI nursing.
Below, I’ll walk you through what the job actually is, what it looks like day to day, the money, the good, the hard, and whether it’s something you should consider.
What Is a GI Nurse?
On the procedure side, GI nurses work in a GI, or gastroenterology, facility where procedures are done. The most common ones are EGDs and colonoscopies. There are also more advanced procedures you might not have heard of, like ERCPs. That’s short for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. Yes, that is a mouthful.
Depending on the facility, GI nurses also end up helping with some non-GI specialties, like pulmonology and cardiology. I’ll explain why when we get to the sedation nurse below.
The Roles on a GI Team
The best way to understand the job is to look at the team.
Where I worked, we had five positions: intake, sedation, procedure, recovery, and charge. Everybody rotated through each position weekly, so everybody was kind of interchangeable.
Here’s what each one does.
Intake Nurse
Intake gets the patient ready. History, IVs, the whole nine yards.
Sedation Nurse
The sedation nurse is responsible for giving the sedation. If you’re using conscious sedation, also called moderate sedation, that’s the nurse’s job.
Depending on the specialty and the procedure, sedation might be handled by an anesthesiologist instead, or more likely a CRNA.
This is also where the pulmonology and cardiology piece comes in.
As a GI sedation nurse, you’re going to learn sedation, and you’re going to be BLS and ACLS certified to do it. A lot of times, that means you’ll be doing sedation for other departments too.
I’ve done sedation for pulmonology for bronchoscopies, for TEEs in cardiology, and for when cardiology did their shocks to get patients out of bad rhythms.
Procedure Nurse (Instrument Nurse)
The procedure nurse helps the physician with the procedure.
You’re working closely with the endoscopist and making sure everything is set up exactly how they like it. Some facilities actually use procedure techs for this instead of nurses. It just depends.
Recovery Nurse
The recovery nurse makes sure the patient comes out of sedation okay, without any complications or issues.
Charge Nurse
The charge nurse is kind of the maestro, the orchestrator. They’re making sure everything stays on schedule and gets done the way it’s supposed to.
How It Varies by Facility
Keep in mind that’s how it worked where I was. How all of this is set up can look different depending on where you work.
I’ve seen places where intake was its own central department. There were multiple specialties in the building, so GI would pull patients from intake, cardiology would pull from intake, and so on.
I’ve also seen recovery set up the same way. One recovery unit handled patients from several specialties, and GI just used that department instead of having its own.
So the roles are pretty much the same everywhere. How they’re organized is what changes.
What a Normal Day Looks Like
So now that you know who does what, what’s the day-to-day actually like? In most of these places, it’s really fast-paced.
Once intake has the patient ready, you’re grabbing them, rolling them to the room, and getting everything you need done. The procedure goes by relatively quickly.
While the room is turning over, the patient heads to recovery. Meanwhile, the next patient is getting grabbed, maybe the family gets notified depending on how that’s set up, and they’re on their way back to the room.
At the same time, the procedure nurse is already turning over the room.
That means cleaning up, taking the scope back depending on the facility’s policy for how instruments are handled, wiping everything down, and getting it ready.
The physician is doing their note. By the time the room’s ready, the new patient is rolling in.
Most of these facilities are a well-oiled machine when it comes to cranking out procedures. It’s almost like an assembly line. Everything is moving and grooving.
Where You’ll Work and Your Schedule
Where you’ll be doing all of this depends on the job. You might work in a hospital or in an ambulatory, outpatient setting.
Either way, the department typically runs Monday through Friday, so you’re not working 12-hour shifts. But depending on where you work, you might have a call rotation, including weekend call.
GI Nurse Pay
Like a lot of specialties, there’s money to be made here.
Depending on how your clinic is set up, I’ve heard some places even offer incentives for staff to keep things moving. From what I’ve seen, and from my own experience, the pay is up there.
But you are going to work hard. In a lot of places, you’re working hard for every last bit of that penny.
The Pros of GI Nursing
So, putting it all together, what’s good about GI nursing?
It’s fast-paced, the money’s pretty good, and things are always moving. The hours can be good too. If you don’t want to work 12-hour shifts, this might be your thing.
The Cons of GI Nursing
Now, it’s not all good.
It can be very physically demanding. You’re turning patients who are out cold from sedation, you’re on your feet all day, and depending on your position, you’re always in a hurry.
The on-call can be rough too, depending on the facility. At some places, if it’s your weekend, you already know you’re working pretty much 8 hours Saturday and Sunday.
It’s just that busy, and you’re getting called in more likely than not. The upside is that it helps with the money, and at some of these places the overtime is pretty much a sure thing.
Is GI Nursing Right for You?
So with all that in mind, who is this field actually for?
It’s for somebody who doesn’t really want to do a whole lot of talking with patients.
You’re not really about getting to know the patient or taking care of them for the long run. It’s one and done.
You see the patient, and you’re done. You’re not taking care of the same patient for days or weeks on end, and for a lot of people, that’s a good thing.
On the other hand, if you love getting to know your patients and following them through their whole stay, this probably isn’t the place for you. Same thing if you want to be working through complex, critical patients every shift. That’s more of an ICU thing.
How to Become a GI Nurse
If this sounds like you, here’s how you get in.
You’re going to need your RN. Some places might take you with your LPN, but honestly, you want your RN. Get your RN. If you’re still figuring out where to go to school, check out Nurse Money Talk’s schools page.
As far as certifications go, you’re going to need your BLS, but for sure your ACLS. If you’re doing sedation, that’s a must.
You can get in as a new grad. If you’ve got experience somewhere else, like the ER or the OR, that definitely helps. Everybody always says they want somebody with experience.
That’s pretty much every job. But you can break into this field without it.
When you’re ready to start looking, check out the Nurse Money Talk job board for GI nursing jobs.
Still Not Sure? Let’s Talk
If you’re still not sure whether this is the right field for you, or you want to explore some other options as a nurse, that’s what my consult is for.
It’s a one-on-one session where we look at where you are and where you want to go. I do have limited consultation hours, so book your consult here.
Got questions about GI nursing? Drop them in the comments, and check out the Nurse Money Talk YouTube channel for more videos like this one.
