What You Need to Know About Acute Care Nurse
Occupation Description 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.
What Do Acute Care Nurses Do On a Daily Basis?
- Assess the needs of patients’ family members or caregivers.
- Analyze the indications, contraindications, risk complications, and cost-benefit tradeoffs of therapeutic interventions.
- Refer patients for specialty consultations or treatments.
- Interpret information obtained from electrocardiograms (EKGs) or radiographs (x-rays).
- Assist patients in organizing their health care system activities.
- Order, perform, or interpret the results of diagnostic tests and screening procedures based on assessment results, differential diagnoses, and knowledge about age, gender and health status of clients.
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Acute Care Nurse Skills
Acute Care Nurses state the following job skills are important in their day-to-day work.
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.
Types of Acute Care Nurse
- Preceptor
- Staff Nurse
- Progressive Care Unit Registered Nurse
- Care Transitions Manager
- Pediatric Acute Care Unit Nurse
Job Demand for Acute Care Nurses
There were about 2,955,200 jobs for Acute Care Nurse in 2016 (in the United States). 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. Due to new job openings and attrition, there will be an average of 203,700 job openings in this field each year.
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.
Acute Care Nurse Average Salary
The average yearly salary of an Acute Care Nurse ranges between $50,800 and $106,530.
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 & Technology do Acute Care Nurses Use?
Although they’re not necessarily needed for all jobs, the following technologies are used by many Acute Care Nurses:
- 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
How to Become an Acute Care Nurse
Education needed to be an Acute Care Nurse:
How many years of work experience do I need?
Who Employs Acute Care Nurses?
The table below shows the approximate number of Acute Care Nurses employed by various industries.
References:
Image Credit: Aleksahgabrielle via Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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