{{For, the television series, RAN Remote Area Nurse (television) A Remote Area Nurse (RAN) is a nurse working in remote or isolated areas of Australia, where population density and remoteness preclude the provision of permanent doctors. A RAN may be employed in various settings, including remote indigenous communities, mine sites and remote townships.

Scope of practice

RANs are considered generalists within their practice. They are expected to be able competently to assess and provide clinical care across the life spectrum, from birth through to death, and be able to assess and treat a wide range of medical conditions effectively. As a RAN's work location may be isolated and remote, and may have limited or non-existent medical support, they often assume an extended scope of practice. Skills may include advanced life support (ALS), prescription and supply of medicines,

suturing A surgical suture, also known as a stitch or stitches, is a medical device used to hold body tissues together and approximate wound edges after an injury or surgery. Application generally involves using a needle with an attached length of thread ...

, child birth, nurse immuniser status, performing

x-ray X-rays (or rarely, ''X-radiation'') are a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. In many languages, it is referred to as Röntgen radiation, after the German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who discovered it in 1895 and named it ' ...

s, provision of

ambulance An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to medi ...

services including receiving emergency calls (000), and airstrip preparation. Furthermore, when clinical situations are dire, a RAN may be able to perform emergency life saving manoeuvres, usually reserved for medical practitioners, such as

laryngeal mask airway A laryngeal mask airway (LMA), also known as laryngeal mask, is a medical device that keeps a patient's airway open during anaesthesia or while they are unconscious. It is a type of supraglottic airway device. They are most commonly used by ana ...

(LMA) insertion,

intubation Intubation (sometimes entubation) is a medical procedure involving the insertion of a tube into the body. Patients are generally anesthetized beforehand. Examples include tracheal intubation, and the balloon tamponade with a Sengstaken-Blake ...

, needle

cricothyroidotomy A cricothyrotomy (also called cricothyroidotomy) is an incision made through the skin and cricothyroid membrane to establish a patent airway during certain life-threatening situations, such as airway obstruction by a foreign body, angioedema, o ...

, needle chest decompression and chest drain insertion. In place of a medical practitioner, a RAN generally operates within predefined standard operating orders, such as those contained within the remote primary healthcare manuals (CARPA). Nursing in Australia Community nursing