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Date: 07/23/2026

Critical Care Nurses

Provide specialized nursing care for patients in critical or coronary care units.

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    Work Activities

    Work Activities

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

    Skills

    • Coordination

      Changing what is done based on other people's actions.

    • Monitoring

      Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.

    • Operations Analysis

      Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.

    • Writing

      Writing things for co-workers or customers.

    • Repairing

      Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.

    • Mathematics

      Using math to solve problems.

    • Service Orientation

      Looking for ways to help people.

    • Operation and Control

      Using equipment or systems.

    • Science

      Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.

    • Negotiation

      Bringing people together to solve differences.

    • Systems Analysis

      Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.

    • Management of Financial Resources

      Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.

    • Management of Personnel Resources

      Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.

    • Equipment Selection

      Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.

    • Quality Control Analysis

      Testing how well a product or service works.

    • Installation

      Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.

    • Judgment and Decision Making

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.

    • Active Learning

      Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.

    • Instructing

      Teaching people how to do something.

    • Operations Monitoring

      Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.

    • Systems Evaluation

      Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.

    • Management of Material Resources

      Managing equipment and materials.

    • Speaking

      Talking to others.

    • Social Perceptiveness

      Understanding people's reactions.

    • Technology Design

      Making equipment and technology useful for customers.

    • Persuasion

      Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.

    • Reading Comprehension

      Reading work-related information.

    • Learning Strategies

      Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.

    • Complex Problem Solving

      Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

    • Equipment Maintenance

      Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.

    • Critical Thinking

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

    • Active Listening

      Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

    • Troubleshooting

      Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.

    • Time Management

      Managing your time and the time of other people.

    • Programming

      Writing computer programs.

    WorkKeys®

    Applied Math
    4
    Workplace Documents
    5
    Graphic Literacy
    4

    Abilities

    • Dynamic Strength

      Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.

    • Night Vision

      Seeing at night or under low light.

    • Arm-Hand Steadiness

      Keeping your arm or hand steady.

    • Selective Attention

      Paying attention to something without being distracted.

    • Trunk Strength

      Using your lower back and stomach.

    • Static Strength

      Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.

    • Perceptual Speed

      Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.

    • Finger Dexterity

      Putting together small parts with your fingers.

    • Explosive Strength

      Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.

    • Dynamic Flexibility

      Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Mathematical Reasoning

      Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.

    • Originality

      Creating new and original ideas.

    • Manual Dexterity

      Holding or moving items with your hands.

    • Glare Sensitivity

      Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.

    • Speech Clarity

      Speaking clearly.

    • Near Vision

      Seeing details up close.

    • Peripheral Vision

      Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.

    • Extent Flexibility

      Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Depth Perception

      Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.

    • Wrist-Finger Speed

      Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.

    • Visual Color Discrimination

      Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.

    • Oral Comprehension

      Listening and understanding what people say.

    • Written Comprehension

      Reading and understanding what is written.

    • Category Flexibility

      Grouping things in different ways.

    • Speed of Limb Movement

      Quickly moving your arms and legs.

    • Stamina

      Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

    • Speed of Closure

      Quickly knowing what you are looking at.

    • Reaction Time

      Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.

    • Deductive Reasoning

      Using rules to solve problems.

    • Memorization

      Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.

    • Control Precision

      Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.

    • Written Expression

      Communicating by writing.

    • Speech Recognition

      Recognizing spoken words.

    • Gross Body Coordination

      Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.

    • Inductive Reasoning

      Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.

    • Visualization

      Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.

    • Problem Sensitivity

      Noticing when problems happen.

    • Number Facility

      Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

    • Spatial Orientation

      Knowing where things are around you.

    • Multilimb Coordination

      Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.

    • Response Orientation

      Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.

    • Rate Control

      Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.

    • Oral Expression

      Communicating by speaking.

    • Fluency of Ideas

      Coming up with lots of ideas.

    • Auditory Attention

      Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.

    • Hearing Sensitivity

      Telling the difference between sounds.

    • Sound Localization

      Noticing the direction that a sound came from.

    • Gross Body Equilibrium

      Keeping your balance or staying upright.

    • Far Vision

      Seeing details that are far away.

    • Information Ordering

      Ordering or arranging things.

    • Flexibility of Closure

      Seeing hidden patterns.

    • Time Sharing

      Doing two or more things at the same time.

    Knowledge

    • Personnel and Human Resources

      Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

    • Food Production

      Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.

    • Mathematics

      Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

    • Production and Processing

      Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

    • Mechanical

      Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

    • Law and Government

      Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

    • Transportation

      Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

    • Economics and Accounting

      Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

    • Customer and Personal Service

      Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

    • Biology

      Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.

    • Administration and Management

      Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

    • Telecommunications

      Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

    • Psychology

      Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

    • Geography

      Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.

    • Medicine and Dentistry

      Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.

    • Education and Training

      Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

    • Foreign Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.

    • Fine Arts

      Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.

    • Building and Construction

      Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.

    • Administrative

      Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

    • Design

      Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

    • History and Archeology

      Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.

    • Philosophy and Theology

      Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

    • Public Safety and Security

      Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

    • Computers and Electronics

      Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

    • Physics

      Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.

    • Sales and Marketing

      Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

    • Engineering and Technology

      Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

    • Chemistry

      Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.

    • Sociology and Anthropology

      Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

    • Therapy and Counseling

      Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

    • English Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.

    • Communications and Media

      Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

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    Pay

    • Ohio Annual Salary 82510/yr
    • Typical Salary
    • Ohio Hourly Wage 39.67/hr
    • Typical Hourly Wage

    Ohio Employment Trends

    • Currently Employed 135,860
    • Yearly Projected Openings 7630

    Typical Education

    Personality

    Social: People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking.They do well at jobs that need:
    • Sincerity
    • Adaptability
    • Perseverance
    • Empathy
    • Stress Tolerance
    • Self-Control

    Tools

    Technology

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