Essay On Critical Care Nurse

A critical care nurse is a licensed professional nurse that is responsible for critically and acutely ill patients receive the highest of care. They are sometimes called an ICU or Intensive Care Unit nurse. There is a wide variety of settings for a critical care nurses to work in. They may be needed for adult critical care units, pediatric or neonatal ICU’s, emergency departments or even more specialized units such as burn units. Care will go to acutely ill patients of all ages that may be unstable, unconscious, or maybe even close to death. As patient care in the critical care units get more complex the nurses will need to keep up to date with the latest information and skills. As patient care becomes more complex and technology becomes more advanced the critical care nurse will always be pushed to become ever more knowledgeable.
The requirements to become a critical care nurse will depend on the demand for nurses. Some employers will hire a Licensed Practical Nurse …show more content…
Working with critically ill patients can be stressful to some individuals. It takes a special type of person to work as a critical care nurse. Not only should they be able to cope with stress they should be quick thinkers. Although the physician will be in charge of the patients primary care, the critical care nurse will be the one there monitoring the patients. Because sometimes patients are so close to death you may be monitoring vitals several times and hour and will be relaying the information to the doctor or charge nurse. These patients are very ill and will require much more detailed thought and critical care nurses may even have to adjust patients’ treatments on their own without consulting the attending physician, if time doesn’t allow. Critical care nurses should also be skilled in life saving techniques, such as CPR. They should also be trained in knowing to use defibrillators and other life saving