Career Details
Career Details
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Career Details
29-1141.01 - Acute Care Nurses
29-1141.01 - Acute Care Nurses
Provide advanced nursing care for patients with acute conditions such as heart attacks, respiratory distress syndrome, or shock. May care for pre- and post-operative patients or perform advanced, invasive diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.
Key Facts
Bright Outlook
1
Career Details
Green Job
Career Details
Current Employment
2,751,000
Estimate
Forecasted Employment
3,190,300
Estimate
Change in Employment
+439,300
Estimate
Change in Employment %
+16%
Estimate
Tasks
Tasks
The tasks listed below can be performed to prepare you for a career in this field.
Core
- Diagnose acute or chronic conditions that could result in rapid physiological deterioration or life-threatening instability.
- Distinguish between normal and abnormal developmental and age-related physiological and behavioral changes in acute, critical, and chronic illness.
- Manage patients' pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions, monitoring patients' responses, and changing care plans accordingly.
- Interpret information obtained from electrocardiograms (EKGs) or radiographs (x-rays).
- Perform emergency medical procedures, such as basic cardiac life support (BLS), advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), and other condition-stabilizing interventions.
- Assess urgent and emergent health conditions, using both physiologically and technologically derived data.
- Assess the impact of illnesses or injuries on patients' health, function, growth, development, nutrition, sleep, rest, quality of life, or family, social and educational relationships.
- Collaborate with members of multidisciplinary health care teams to plan, manage, or assess patient treatments.
- Discuss illnesses and treatments with patients and family members.
- Document data related to patients' care, including assessment results, interventions, medications, patient responses, or treatment changes.
- Treat wounds or superficial lacerations.
- Set up, operate, or monitor invasive equipment and devices, such as colostomy or tracheotomy equipment, mechanical ventilators, catheters, gastrointestinal tubes, and central lines.
- Obtain specimens or samples for laboratory work.
- Participate in patients' care meetings and conferences.
- Refer patients for specialty consultations or treatments.
- Administer blood and blood product transfusions or intravenous infusions, monitoring patients for adverse reactions.
- Assess the needs of patients' family members or caregivers.
- Collaborate with patients to plan for future health care needs or to coordinate transitions and referrals.
- Read current literature, talk with colleagues, and participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in acute care.
- Participate in the development of practice protocols.
- Perform administrative duties that facilitate admission, transfer, or discharge of patients.
- Provide formal and informal education to other staff members.
Supplemental
- Analyze the indications, contraindications, risk complications, and cost-benefit tradeoffs of therapeutic interventions.
- Adjust settings on patients' assistive devices, such as temporary pacemakers.
- Order, perform, or interpret the results of diagnostic tests and screening procedures based on assessment results, differential diagnoses, and knowledge about age, gender and health status of clients.
- Prescribe medications and observe patients' reactions, modifying prescriptions as needed.
- Assist patients in organizing their health care system activities.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Knowledge
Knowledge
The items listed below are organized into sections that contain knowledge useful for pursuing a career in this field. Each section also contains a "Percentage of Importance" statistic that shows how relevant an item is to the occupation.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Tools
Tools
The tools listed below include machines, equipment, tools, and software that is useful for individuals who are interested in this career.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Technology
Technology
The technologies listed below include machines, equipment, tools, and software that is useful for individuals who are interested in this career.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Certifications
Licensing
Licensing
The licensing information below is organized into sections and is useful for pursuing if you are interested in a career in this field.
No specific licensing information is listed for this occupation in the area you have selected.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Related Programs
Programs related to this career, offered by participating institution(s), are listed below.
Clicking on the Degree programs in the list below will take you away from the Careers page.
Clicking on the Degree programs in the list below will take you away from the Careers page.
INSTITUTION
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