Critical Care Nurses

Key Responsibilities

• Plan, provide, or evaluate educational programs for nursing staff, interdisciplinary health care team members, or community members.
• Assess patients' pain levels or sedation requirements.
• Collect specimens for laboratory tests.
• Document patients' medical histories and assessment findings.
• Assess family adaptation levels and coping skills to determine whether intervention is needed.
• Supervise and monitor unit nursing staff.
• Coordinate patient care conferences.
• Conduct pulmonary assessments to identify abnormal respiratory patterns or breathing sounds that indicate problems.
• Assess patients' psychosocial status and needs, including areas such as sleep patterns, anxiety, grief, anger, and support systems.
• Administer medications intravenously, by injection, orally, through gastric tubes, or by other methods.
• Administer blood and blood products, monitoring patients for signs and symptoms related to transfusion reactions.
• Ensure that equipment or devices are properly stored after use.
• Advocate for patients' and families' needs, or provide emotional support for patients and their families.
• Provide post-mortem care.
• Monitor patients for changes in status and indications of conditions such as sepsis or shock and institute appropriate interventions.
• Monitor patients' fluid intake and output to detect emerging problems, such as fluid and electrolyte imbalances.
• Evaluate patients' vital signs or laboratory data to determine emergency intervention needs.
• Compile and analyze data obtained from monitoring or diagnostic tests.
• Assist physicians with procedures such as bronchoscopy, endoscopy, endotracheal intubation, or elective cardioversion.
• Prioritize nursing care for assigned critically ill patients, based on assessment data or identified needs.
• Identify patients at risk of complications due to nutritional status.
• Document patients' treatment plans, interventions, outcomes, or plan revisions.
• Participate in the development, review, or evaluation of nursing practice protocols.
• Collaborate with other health care professionals to develop and revise treatment plans, based on identified needs and assessment data.
• Participate in professional organizations and continuing education to improve practice knowledge and skills.
• Identify patients' age-specific needs and alter care plans as necessary to meet those needs.
• Identify malfunctioning equipment or devices.
• Perform approved therapeutic or diagnostic procedures, based upon patients' clinical status.
• Set up and monitor medical equipment and devices such as cardiac monitors, mechanical ventilators and alarms, oxygen delivery devices, transducers, or pressure lines.