Critical Care Nursing

When you think of a career in nursing, what do you imagine? Some would probably think of the person who provides care in a hospital or a physician’s office. Others might think of a care giver in an emergency room or nursing home. While all these answers are right, there are more opportunities in nursing that patient care or giving out suckers to children in a pediatrician’s office. Critical care nurses are more in demand than ever as health care shifts from the hospital to healthcare institutions and clinics.

Nursing also has many specialties and subspecialties, including the specialty of dealing with life-threatening injuries and critical situations. These are the critical care nurses. Critical care nursing is as the name implies: highly-important duties and procedures that must be carried out carefully in order to save lives. A critical care nurse is a licensed nurse who is trained in acutely ill and critical patients, and makes sure they get the best possible care.

Critical care nursing is an important field today, and critical care nurses shoulder much responsibility. First of all, understand that a critical patient is one whose life is potentially in danger from injury or illness. This patient is much more vulnerable than the average person to unstable conditions and change. The more ill this patient is, the more careful the nurse must be. There is no room for error or misjudgment. Only the nurses trained in this level of care are capable of handling these emergencies and situations.

Critical care nurses are found in many areas of a hospital, not just an emergency room or critical care unit. These highly trained professionals are found in intensive care, cardiac care (including catheter labs), intensive care units for critical pediatrics and neonatal patients, and many more. Critical care nurses also perform duties in managed care, outpatient care (especially for surgeries), small emergency clinics, home care. Those who enjoy teaching often go on to instruct at nursing schools.

Critical care nurses must endure intense classroom and hands-on training. They must go through intense internships in a critical care setting. As students, they learn to evaluate difficult cases, apply critical care therapies, and act quickly and with precision. Because they may end up as teachers, researchers, specialists, nurse practitioners, bedside caregivers, managers, and more, they must have exposure to all these possibilities while in school.