All About Acute Care Nurses
Job Description & Duties 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.
A Day in the Life of an Acute Care Nurse
- Participate in the development of practice protocols.
- Analyze the indications, contraindications, risk complications, and cost-benefit tradeoffs of therapeutic interventions.
- Assess urgent and emergent health conditions using both physiologically and technologically derived data.
- Document data related to patients’ care including assessment results, interventions, medications, patient responses, or treatment changes.
- Distinguish between normal and abnormal developmental and age-related physiological and behavioral changes in acute, critical, and chronic illness.
- Perform administrative duties that facilitate admission, transfer, or discharge of patients.
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What Skills Do You Need to Work as an Acute Care Nurse?
These are the skills Acute Care Nurses say are the most useful in their careers:
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Related Job Titles
- Care Transitions Manager
- Clinical Nurse Educator
- Nursing Director
- Clinical Educator
- Pediatric Acute Care Unit Nurse
Is There Job Demand for Acute Care Nurses?
In 2016, there was an estimated number of 2,955,200 jobs in the United States for Acute Care Nurse. New jobs are being produced at a rate of 14.8% which is above the national average. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 438,000 new jobs for Acute Care Nurse by 2026. The BLS estimates 203,700 yearly job openings in this field.
The states with the most job growth for Acute Care Nurse are Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. Watch out if you plan on working in Rhode Island, Wisconsin, or Connecticut. These states have the worst job growth for this type of profession.
Do Acute Care Nurses Make A Lot Of Money?
Acute Care Nurses make between $50,800 and $106,530 a year.
Acute Care Nurses who work in Hawaii, California, or Oregon, make the highest salaries.
How much do Acute Care Nurses make in different U.S. states?
| State | Annual Mean Salary |
|---|---|
| Alabama | $59,470 |
| Alaska | $89,310 |
| Arizona | $77,000 |
| Arkansas | $60,780 |
| California | $106,950 |
| Colorado | $74,240 |
| Connecticut | $81,220 |
| Delaware | $74,800 |
| District of Columbia | $92,350 |
| Florida | $66,210 |
| Georgia | $68,950 |
| Hawaii | $98,080 |
| Idaho | $67,110 |
| Illinois | $73,890 |
| Indiana | $64,860 |
| Iowa | $59,130 |
| Kansas | $61,030 |
| Kentucky | $63,100 |
| Louisiana | $63,970 |
| Maine | $67,610 |
| Maryland | $76,820 |
| Massachusetts | $92,140 |
| Michigan | $71,330 |
| Minnesota | $78,920 |
| Mississippi | $58,490 |
| Missouri | $65,130 |
| Montana | $67,450 |
| Nebraska | $64,470 |
| Nevada | $85,620 |
| New Hampshire | $72,760 |
| New Jersey | $82,750 |
| New Mexico | $71,730 |
| New York | $85,610 |
| North Carolina | $64,850 |
| North Dakota | $65,740 |
| Ohio | $66,820 |
| Oklahoma | $63,080 |
| Oregon | $91,080 |
| Pennsylvania | $70,390 |
| Rhode Island | $78,420 |
| South Carolina | $64,940 |
| South Dakota | $58,340 |
| Tennessee | $61,320 |
| Texas | $72,890 |
| Utah | $65,670 |
| Vermont | $69,160 |
| Virginia | $69,790 |
| Washington | $82,670 |
| West Virginia | $61,780 |
| Wisconsin | $71,470 |
| Wyoming | $67,360 |
What Tools do Acute Care Nurses Use?
Below is a list of the types of tools and technologies that Acute Care Nurses may use on a daily basis:
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft Office
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft Access
- SAP software
- IBM Lotus Notes
- GE Healthcare Centricity EMR
- Bizmatics PrognoCIS EMR
- eClinicalWorks
- SOAPware EMR
- Allscripts Professional EHR
- e-MDs software
- ChartWare EMR
- NextGen Healthcare Information Systems EMR
- Cerner Millennium
- SynaMed EMR
- Texas Medical Software SpringCharts EMR
- MicroFour PracticeStudio.NET EMR
Becoming an Acute Care Nurse
Learn what Acute Care Nurse education requirements there are.
How many years of work experience do I need?
Where do Acute Care Nurses Work?
Acute Care Nurses work in the following industries:
References:
Image Credit: Aleksahgabrielle via Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
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