What Does it Take to Be a Critical Care Nurse?
Job Description & Duties Provide advanced nursing care for patients in critical or coronary care units.
Life As a Critical Care Nurse: What Do They Do?
- Set up and monitor medical equipment and devices such as cardiac monitors, mechanical ventilators and alarms, oxygen delivery devices, transducers, or pressure lines.
- Advocate for patients’ and families’ needs, or provide emotional support for patients and their families.
- Coordinate patient care conferences.
- Participate in the development, review, or evaluation of nursing practice protocols.
- Assess patients’ pain levels or sedation requirements.
- Perform approved therapeutic or diagnostic procedures, based upon patients’ clinical status.
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Critical Care Nurse Skills
When polled, Critical Care Nurses say the following skills are most frequently used in their jobs:
Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Types of Critical Care Nurse
- Catheterization Laboratory Senior Manager (Cath Lab Senior Manager)
- Critical Care Nurse Practitioner
- Intensive Care Unit Registered Nurse (ICU RN)
- Critical Care Unit Nurse
- Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory Registered Nurse
What Kind of Critical Care Nurse Job Opportunities Are There?
There were about 2,955,200 jobs for Critical Care Nurse in 2016 (in the United States). New jobs are being produced at a rate of 14.8% which is above the national average. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 438,000 new jobs for Critical Care Nurse by 2026. Due to new job openings and attrition, there will be an average of 203,700 job openings in this field each year.
The states with the most job growth for Critical Care Nurse are Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. Watch out if you plan on working in Rhode Island, Wisconsin, or Connecticut. These states have the worst job growth for this type of profession.
Critical Care Nurse Salary
Critical Care Nurses make between $50,800 and $106,530 a year.
Critical Care Nurses who work in Hawaii, California, or Oregon, make the highest salaries.
How much do Critical Care Nurses make in each U.S. state?
| State | Annual Mean Salary |
|---|---|
| Alabama | $59,470 |
| Alaska | $89,310 |
| Arizona | $77,000 |
| Arkansas | $60,780 |
| California | $106,950 |
| Colorado | $74,240 |
| Connecticut | $81,220 |
| Delaware | $74,800 |
| District of Columbia | $92,350 |
| Florida | $66,210 |
| Georgia | $68,950 |
| Hawaii | $98,080 |
| Idaho | $67,110 |
| Illinois | $73,890 |
| Indiana | $64,860 |
| Iowa | $59,130 |
| Kansas | $61,030 |
| Kentucky | $63,100 |
| Louisiana | $63,970 |
| Maine | $67,610 |
| Maryland | $76,820 |
| Massachusetts | $92,140 |
| Michigan | $71,330 |
| Minnesota | $78,920 |
| Mississippi | $58,490 |
| Missouri | $65,130 |
| Montana | $67,450 |
| Nebraska | $64,470 |
| Nevada | $85,620 |
| New Hampshire | $72,760 |
| New Jersey | $82,750 |
| New Mexico | $71,730 |
| New York | $85,610 |
| North Carolina | $64,850 |
| North Dakota | $65,740 |
| Ohio | $66,820 |
| Oklahoma | $63,080 |
| Oregon | $91,080 |
| Pennsylvania | $70,390 |
| Rhode Island | $78,420 |
| South Carolina | $64,940 |
| South Dakota | $58,340 |
| Tennessee | $61,320 |
| Texas | $72,890 |
| Utah | $65,670 |
| Vermont | $69,160 |
| Virginia | $69,790 |
| Washington | $82,670 |
| West Virginia | $61,780 |
| Wisconsin | $71,470 |
| Wyoming | $67,360 |
What Tools & Technology do Critical Care Nurses Use?
Although they’re not necessarily needed for all jobs, the following technologies are used by many Critical Care Nurses:
- Microsoft Office
- Web browser software
- Word processing software
- Microsoft SharePoint
- MEDITECH software
- Google Drive
- Epic Systems
- Oracle Taleo
- GE Healthcare Centricity EMR
- eClinicalWorks
- Allscripts Professional EHR
- SOAPware EMR
- e-MDs software
- ChartWare EMR
- NextGen Healthcare Information Systems EMR
- Cerner Millennium
- MicroFour PracticeStudio.NET EMR
- SynaMed EMR
- Texas Medical Software SpringCharts EMR
- Amkai AmkaiCharts
How to Become a Critical Care Nurse
What education is needed to be a Critical Care Nurse?
How many years of work experience do I need?
Where Critical Care Nurses Work
The table below shows the approximate number of Critical Care Nurses employed by various industries.
Similar Careers
Career changers with experience as a Critical Care Nurse sometimes find work in one of the following fields:
References:
Image Credit: Aleksahgabrielle via Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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