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Critical Care Nursing

By Heather Hutchins, NursingSchools.com Contributing Writer

Critical care nurses (also known as intensive care or ICU nurses) deal with patients facing life-or-death illnesses or situations. Patients in intensive care units, whether adults or children, require around-the-clock nursing, careful assessment and rapid intervention.

Critical care nurses work in a wide variety of clinical settings including cardiac care units, emergency departments, recovery rooms, outpatient surgical centers, flight units, cardiac catheter labs and telemetry units. However, more than half of all critical care nurses work in hospitals.

Benefits

While the shortage of nurses is a national problem, the dilemma in critical care nursing is acute. Many hospitals are starting to offer critical care nurses such incentives as relocation packages, sign-on bonuses and finders’ fees for bringing in other critical care nurses. In addition, hospitals are offering continuing education and internship programs that allow new graduates to learn critical care nursing skills.

Despite the nursing shortage in this specialty, the salary range for critical care nurses is approximately that of other RNs. It ranges from $40,000 to $60,000 per year, depending on the clinical and geographic setting.

In addition to salary, clinical care nurses receive paid vacation, professional liability insurance, paid sick time, medical, life and dental insurance.

Education

Most critical care nursing positions require that applicants be registered nurses. Other accreditation or degrees are not required for critical care nurses. However, nurses with specific critical care certificates or degrees can often command higher salaries.

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) represents over 500,000 nurses and is the largest specialty nursing organization in the world. AACN offers the certified critical care nurse (CCRN) certification along with variety of certificates in critical care sub-specialties. Additional degrees in critical care nursing include the clinical nurse specialist (CNS) and the Acute-Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP) designations.

Job Prospects

Because the nursing shortage is even worse in critical care nursing, the prospects for the future are good. Every hospital in the country will require a number of critical care nurses to work with very sick patients. And, as the U.S. population ages, the need for critical care nurses will only increase.

Related Nursing Specialties

Critical care nursing includes the practices of neonatal, adult and pediatric nursing sub-specialties. In addition, some nurses further specialize in critical care for specific organs including the heart, kidneys and liver.