When patients arrive in an ICU, they receive immediate life-saving care provided by medical professionals trained to treat their time-sensitive conditions. One of those professionals is a critical care nurse.
Critical care nurses, also known as ICU nurses, are registered nurses (RNs) who specialize in assessing and treating severely ill patients. To get started in this career, individuals need to earn a nursing degree and pass a national nursing exam. While optional training and additional experience, nurses who earn a critical care certification can advance in their nursing careers.
What Does a Critical Care Nurse Do?
Critical care nurses care for patients who need ongoing monitoring and care due to a life-threatening medical condition, injury, or illness, such as a heart attack, an infection, serious burns, major surgery recovery, a severe heart disease, sepsis, or respiratory failure. Critical care nurses work in intensive care or critical care units, which are specialized departments dedicated to treating people with severe medical issues.
Critical care nurses often work as part of a critical care team that includes other healthcare professionals such as intensivists (critical care physicians), pharmacists, chaplains, respiratory therapists, dieticians, and social workers. These nurses regularly need to make quick and accurate decisions regarding the diagnosis and treatment of patients ranging from newborns to older adults.
Common duties of critical care nurses include:
- Consistently monitoring patients’ vital signs, such as their body temperature and heart rate
- Reporting and quickly responding to changes in patients’ conditions
- Explaining treatments or procedures to patients
- Communicating the status of patients’ conditions to their loved ones
- Administering medication to patients using intravenous, oral, or injection methods
- Assisting patients’ families with transportation to other locations, such as a rehabilitation facility
- Bandaging, stitching, and cleaning patients’ wounds
- Implementing treatments plans created for patients by physicians
Just as there are different types of nurses, there are several different types of specialized ICUs where critical care nurses can work, including:
- Burn wound intensive care unit (BWICU)
- Respiratory intensive care unit (RICU)
- Cardiac surgery intensive care unit (CSICU)
- Surgical intensive care unit (SICU)
- Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)
- Trauma intensive care unit (TICU)
- Psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU)
- Geriatric intensive care unit (GICU)
- Postanesthesia care unit (PACU)
<h2>How to Become a Critical Care Nurse</h2>
Starting a career as a critical care nurse is similar to starting a career as any other kind of RN. It begins by gaining formal nursing education.
1. Earn a Degree and Gain Licensure
Aspiring critical care nurses first will be required to earn an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) or a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). Upon completion of the nursing program, graduates must pass the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN). After passing the exam, they can become licensed in their state to practice as an RN. To do this they need to satisfy the requirements of the State Board of Nursing in their state.
2. Develop Key Skills
Due to the settings of ICUs, critical care nurses need to develop skills in certain areas that will enable them to work calmly in life-threatening and emergency situations. These areas include:
- Crisis management: Nurses need to be adept at remaining calm under pressure while managing and implementing life-saving care.
- Collaboration: ICUs rely on multidisciplinary teams to provide comprehensive medical care. Nurses should be comfortable working with other medical professions, taking direction, and providing immediate care.
- Adaptability: Critical care environments are complex and ever changing, so nurses need to be able to quickly adjust to unforeseen circumstances.
- Critical thinking: Nurses working in ICUs must be able to quickly assess patients’ conditions and make sharp, sound decisions about their care.
- Technical proficiency: Critical care nurses must know how to operate emergency equipment, such as ventilators, cardiac machines, central lines, and patient monitoring technology.
3. Gain Work Experience
Prospective critical care nurses should have at least a minimum of two years of intensive care experience before applying for specific jobs. Typically, entry level nurses gain general patient care experience before moving on to emergency response units.
4. Earn Certification
Pursuing a critical care certification is one way a nurse can demonstrate expertise in their specialty area. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACCN) offers several certification options for neonatal, pediatric, and adult specialties. While requirements for the certifications vary slightly, they generally include an active RN license and specific clinical practice hours.
5. Continue Professional Development
Critical care nurses should continue their professional development throughout their careers by enrolling in courses, seminars, or workshops to keep abreast of new research and nursing practice changes. Aside from educational institutions, the AACCN offers an assortment of continuing education courses, many of which are available online.
Job Outlook for Critical Care Nurses
Critical care nurses are RNs, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects employment of RNs will grow 6% from 2022 to 2032. With factors like nurse retirements, the increasing population of older adults, and the need to care for more patients with chronic medical conditions, RNs are likely to remain in demand.
The BLS further reports that, as of 2022, there were 3.2 million RNs employed across the country. Hospitals were the largest employers of nurses, but job growth is projected to remain steady across several healthcare settings. Nurses are among the top five professionals who are the most in demand, according to a 2023 LinkedIn jobs report.
Start Your Nursing Career by Earning an Associate Degree
If you’re ready to start your career as a critical care nurse, completing a nursing program is the first step. One of the quickest ways to become an RN is to earn an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN). At Fortis, the ADN program provides fundamental nursing practice training, including practical and classroom learning.
Find out how Fortis can prepare you to become a skilled nurse and turn your love of emergency and critical care into a career.
Recommended Readings
How Long Does It Take to Become a Nurse?
LPN vs. RN: What’s the Difference?
How to Become a Registered Nurse