Are you interested in helping people? Most folks who work in medicine share a core desire to help others. If that is you too, then perhaps cosmetic nursing might be the career for you. Cosmetic nurses work together with a medical team to provide a range of procedures, such as Botox injections, that help patients look and feel better.
Training in nursing takes hard work and an iron commitment and involves a lot of learning; so, being a dedicated hard worker is indispensable. The exact process of becoming an aesthetics nurse boils down to 3 simple steps. Have a look.
Step one: study and get your nursing license
Go to college, take a nursing course (these range from one year certificates to masters-level programs) and take your license examination upon graduation.
All nursing programs at higher learning institutions involve study of biology, physiology, kinesiology, pharmacology, and other subjects relating to the practice of medicine. Every program also includes a practicum component to ensure that future nurses get plenty of first-hand experience in clinic or hospital settings.
You can become an LPN, RN or Nurse Practitioner. A Licensed practical nurse (LPN) focuses on the practical aspects of caring for patients, while an RN does the work most commonly associated with nurses. A Nurse Practitioner is a nurse certified to practice medicine within parameters more tightly defined than a doctor. An LPN can expect to be certified after as little as one year of post-secondary education, a nurse needs to complete a full university degree (3-4 years) and a Nurse Practitioner needs a minimum of a Masters education before being eligible to practice medicine.
You become a nurse upon completion of your examination, but that doesn’t mean your learning comes to an end. Education is not a product, it is a process and one that continues throughout your life and career. It’s incumbent on all professionals to stay current in their field. As research and discovery drive medicine into the future, you need to take the time to read up on all aspects of new knowledge that might benefit your patients.
Step two: specialize
One educational option in the cycle of continual learning in nursing is to focus on one area of expertise. This focus in one’s education and practice is called specialization.
The journey to specializing in aesthetic medicine can begin in college, where you can seek out a practicum placement at a clinic providing aesthetic procedures like, for example, Botox or liposuction. Most often, new nurses interested in specializing in cosmetic practice will look for a clinic providing such services. Though you can get started working at a place that provides aesthetic procedures when just out of school, you’ll more than likely need to start off somewhere else before you have the requisite experience most clinics will require from applicants.
Step three: get certified
Nurses do not necessarily require certification from an organization like the Plastic Surgical Nursing Certification Board or the Center for Nursing Education and Testing, among others. However, additional certifications do often provide a career boost as well as additional education in specific cosmetic and plastic surgical procedures.
Dentox’s own Botox Training Course, for example, is taught by a world-renowned aesthetic medical professional in Dr. Howard Katz. Not only do you receive certification in a variety of injectables through our courses, but you receive the best available training from the best people in the field.
Nurses at the end of a long educational journey who are looking to cap off this leg of their career cannot go wrong with professional certifications in the exciting and growing field of medical aesthetics.
Live programs:
https://dentox.com/live-courses/
Online programs:
I am a long term LPN and have worked for a plastic surgeon in a medical spa for 14 yrs. I treat clients and post op patients with multiple procedures for face and body. Am I allowed to learn how to inject fillers and Botox?
Hi Bernadette, you can certainly learn, however you will want to ask your state medical board whether or not you can legally inject patients, or else the training will be for educational purposes only.
https://dentox.com/medical-dental-and-nursing-state-boards/
Kind regards, Ari
The Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians recently issued a precedential decision in a disciplinary case in which a Licensed Vocational Nurse performed treatments at a skin care salon and medical spa. The decision concluded that the Licensed Vocational Nurse could not administer Botox, Juvederm, and Kybella injections, perform platelet rich plasma therapy, vitamin drips or skin growth removal procedures, or inject glutathione since of all these procedures are beyond their scope of practice.
You can find the decision at:
https://www.bvnpt.ca.gov/about_us/precedential_decisions.shtml
The Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians serves and protects the public by licensing qualified and competent vocational nurses and psychiatric technicians through ongoing educational oversight, regulation, and enforcement.
Hi Antoinette, thank you for the updated information