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.
This is a specialization of
Registered NursesCareer Overview Video
AI Impact Assessment
AI Resilience Score
Score 5/6: low AI task exposure, strong human advantage provides strong protection from AI displacement (estimated from legacy data)
How we calculated this:
11% of tasks can be accelerated by AI
0% projected (2024-2034)
EPOCH score: 22/25
Key Responsibilities
- 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).
- Perform administrative duties that facilitate admission, transfer, or discharge of patients.
- Obtain specimens or samples for laboratory work.
Education & Training
Typical Entry Education
Bachelor's degree
Time to Job Ready
4-6 years
Based on Job Zone 4. For formal education duration only, see education_duration.
Technology Skills
Key Abilities
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Find jobs and training programs for acute care nurses- Median salary: $86K/year
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Compensation Details
Based on 3,175,390 employed workers
Also Known As
Data from O*NET 30.1 and BLS Occupational Employment Statistics
O*NET Code: 29-1141.01