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Acute Care Nurses

Also called: Nurse Manager, Nursing Director, Progressive Care Unit Registered Nurse

What they do:
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.
On the job, you would:
  • Perform emergency medical procedures, such as basic cardiac life support (BLS), advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), and other condition stabilizing interventions.
  • Document data related to patients' care including assessment results, interventions, medications, patient responses, or treatment changes.
  • Manage patients' pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions, monitoring patients' responses, and changing care plans accordingly.

Knowledge

Arts and Humanities
  • English language
Health
  • medicine and dentistry
  • therapy and counseling
Business
  • customer service
  • management
Math and Science
  • psychology

Skills

Basic Skills
  • listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
  • talking to others
Problem Solving
  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it
Social
  • looking for ways to help people
  • understanding people's reactions

Abilities

Verbal
  • listen and understand what people say
  • communicate by speaking
Ideas and Logic
  • notice when problems happen
  • make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information
Hand and Finger Use
  • keep your arm or hand steady
  • put together small parts with your fingers
Visual Understanding
  • quickly compare groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include
helping people, teaching, and talking.
They do well at jobs that need:
  • Attention to Detail
  • Integrity
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Concern for Others
  • Adaptability/Flexibility
  • Dependability

Technology

You might use software like this on the job:

Medical software
  • eClinicalWorks software
  • GE Healthcare Centricity EMR

Education

Education: (rated 3 of 5)
associate's degree or
bachelor's degree
usually needed

Get started on your career:

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Job Outlook

Bright Outlook
New job opportunities are very likely in the future.
Salary
$65,950
per year, on average
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See more details at O*NET OnLine about acute care nurses.