Acute Care Nurses

What the job really is

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.

At a glance

• Sector: Healthcare Practitioners
• O*NET-SOC code: 29-1141
• O*NET job zone: 4 — considerable preparation
• Work sample tasks on file: 12
• Tools and technologies listed: 12

What you actually do

Work sample tasks recorded for this occupation:

• Perform administrative duties that facilitate admission, transfer, or discharge of patients.
• Discuss illnesses and treatments with patients and family members.
• Diagnose acute or chronic conditions that could result in rapid physiological deterioration or life-threatening instability.
• 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.
• Set up, operate, or monitor invasive equipment and devices, such as colostomy or tracheotomy equipment, mechanical ventilators, catheters, gastrointestinal tubes, and central lines.
• Document data related to patients' care, including assessment results, interventions, medications, patient responses, or treatment changes.
• Administer blood and blood product transfusions or intravenous infusions, monitoring patients for adverse reactions.
• Interpret information obtained from electrocardiograms (EKGs) or radiographs (x-rays).
• Obtain specimens or samples for laboratory work.
• Manage patients' pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions, monitoring patients' responses, and changing care plans accordingly.
• Collaborate with members of multidisciplinary health care teams to plan, manage, or assess patient treatments.

Tools and technology

Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Word, SAP software, eClinicalWorks EHR software, Alligator forceps, Allscripts Professional EHR, Amkai AmkaiCharts

What employers expect you to already be comfortable with.

Where this job leads

Related occupations — the usual moves up and sideways:

• Registered Nurses
• Critical Care Nurses
• Clinical Nurse Specialists
• Paramedics
• Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses
• Nurse Midwives
• Respiratory Therapists
• Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

Getting in

O*NET assigns this occupation job zone 4 (considerable preparation). The related occupations above are the realistic routes in and out.

Find openings

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Check this against the source

O*NET OnLine: Acute Care Nurses — the authoritative public-domain profile this page is derived from, including the full task list, reported skills and the wage estimates for your region.

Derived and rewritten from the public-domain O*NET database (U.S. Department of Labor / Employment and Training Administration). Figures are observations, not promises — always confirm salary, licensing and visa requirements with the employer and the relevant authority.