Critical Care Nursing

So by now I hope everyone knows after all the cardiovascular career posts that I want to specialize in critical care nursing. Critical care is a field in nursing that deals specifically with human responses to life-threatening problems. A critical-care nurse is a licensed professional nurse who is responsible for ensuring that all critically ill patients and their families receive optimal care.

Although very sick and complex patients have always existed, the concept of critical care is relatively modern. As advances have been made in medicine and technology, patient care has become much more complex. To provide appropriate care, nurses needed specialized knowledge and skills, while care delivery mechanisms also needed to evolve to support patients’ needs for continuous monitoring and treatment. The first intensive care units emerged in the 1950s as a means to provide care to very sick patients who needed one-to-one care from a nurse. It was from this environment that the specialty of critical-care nursing emerged.

Critical care nurses work in a variety of different areas, with a diverse patient population. According to the March 1996 DHHS report, 60 percent of all nurses work in the hospital setting. Within the hospital setting, critical-care nurses are found wherever there are critically ill patients: intensive-care units (ICUs); pediatric ICUs, neonatal ICUs, cardiac care units, cardiac catheter labs, telemetry units, progressive care units, emergency departments, and recovery rooms. Increasingly, critical-care nurses work in home health, managed care organizations, nursing schools, outpatient surgery centers, clinics, and flight units. Critical-care nursing includes the sub-specialties of adult, pediatric, and neonatal nursing practice.

I personally have not decided on a subspecialty. I'm just hoping that my background in cardiac technology and cardiac sonography will guide me into a great career in the field of nursing.

Resources: Nurses for a Healthier Tomorrow