What You Need to Know About Critical Care Nurse
Critical Care Nurse Job Description Provide advanced nursing care for patients in critical or coronary care units.
Life As a Critical Care Nurse
- Identify patients’ age-specific needs and alter care plans as necessary to meet those needs.
- Conduct pulmonary assessments to identify abnormal respiratory patterns or breathing sounds that indicate problems.
- Prioritize nursing care for assigned critically ill patients, based on assessment data or identified needs.
- Administer medications intravenously, by injection, orally, through gastric tubes, or by other methods.
- Perform approved therapeutic or diagnostic procedures, based upon patients’ clinical status.
- Compile and analyze data obtained from monitoring or diagnostic tests.
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Critical Care Nurse Required 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.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Other Critical Care Nurse Job Titles
- Critical Care Unit Manager
- Step-Down Nurse
- Staff Nurse, ICU Resource Team (Staff Nurse, Intensive Care Unit Resource Team)
- Telemetry Nurse
- Pediatric Critical Care Nurse
Job Opportunities for Critical Care Nurses
In the United States, there were 2,955,200 jobs for Critical Care Nurse in 2016. 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. There will be an estimated 203,700 positions for Critical Care Nurse per 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
The salary for Critical Care Nurses ranges between about $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 different U.S. states?
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?
Below is a list of the types of tools and technologies that Critical Care Nurses may use on a daily basis:
- Microsoft Office
- Web browser software
- Word processing software
- Microsoft SharePoint
- MEDITECH software
- Google Drive
- Epic Systems
- Oracle Taleo
- GE Healthcare Centricity EMR
- eClinicalWorks
- e-MDs software
- Allscripts Professional EHR
- SOAPware EMR
- ChartWare EMR
- NextGen Healthcare Information Systems EMR
- SynaMed EMR
- Texas Medical Software SpringCharts EMR
- MicroFour PracticeStudio.NET EMR
- Cerner Millennium
- StatCom Patient Flow Logistics Enterprise Suite
Becoming a Critical Care Nurse
What education or degrees do I need to become a Critical Care Nurse?
How Long Does it Take to Become a Critical Care Nurse?
Where do Critical Care Nurses Work?
The table below shows some of the most common industries where those employed in this career field work.
Similar Careers
Those who work as a Critical Care Nurse sometimes switch careers to one of these choices:
References:
Image Credit: Aleksahgabrielle via Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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