American’s Got Nurses Interview Article – Critical Care Nurse
Dec 7, 2014 | 8:00 am
What Does it Take to Become a Critical Care Nurse?
As a specialized field, critical care nursing is a fairly recent development. With continuing advances in medical knowledge and a vast assortment of new technologies, patient care has become extremely complex, creating a necessity for concentrated studies and skills in individualized aspects of care giving. Critical care nursing has become one of these specialized fields of knowledge.
You do not need an advanced degree in nursing to enter the field of critical care, although it requires licensing, either at the LPN or RN level. You will also be required to complete an internship. Critical care nurses work with a team of other knowledgeable members. The critical care team consists of bedside clinicians, nurse educators, nurse researchers, nurse managers, clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners. Approximately twenty-four percent of the total numbers of nurses who work in a hospital setting are knowledgeable in critical care.
How Do You Keep from Becoming Attached to Critically Ill People?
For most nurses, it’s not really possible to keep from forming attachments. There are patients and families that come into their lives who move the heart in a very sympathetic manner and cause them to remember the situation for a reason. The reason may not be clear right away, but later when you reflect on them, it causes you to become a little more compassionate and understanding.
Sometimes the role of the critical care nurse isn’t to heal the patient, but to make the patient more comfortable while going through the dying process. Their value time is spent in helping the family members understand the interventions that have been used and to provide a peaceful, respectful death for their loved one.
What is meant by Patient Advocacy?
Patients in critical care experience a great deal of pain. It seems a little pointless to ask the patient, “how are you feeling” when it’s obvious the patient isn’t feeling well at all. Nurses like Joanna Zanko, RN, MS, CCRN face this reality of pain among her patients every day. A large number are not able to verbalize their pain. Zanko advocates for reducing pain during routine procedures, such as turning, endotracheal suctioning and wound care, by performing these and exercise procedures while the pain medication is still at its optimum capacity. “If patients are in pain,” says Zanko, “they are not able to do deep breathing or expand their lungs well enough to get off their ventilator. If they are in pain, they can’t perform passive range of motion exercises, which interferes with the next step toward mobility, clearing secretions and improved respiratory status. Pain also has physiological effects, such as elevating the heart rate and blood pressure and putting a strain on the heart.”
What Advice Do You Have for Those Choosing to Go Into Critical Care Nursing?
If you believe becoming a critical care nurse is right for you, enter a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program to start, as it will give you an edge on the hiring process. It will also be necessary if you choose to advance into a teaching, administrative or Advanced Practice nursing position. Look for a hospital that values nursing, strong with educational programs and supportive of new graduates. Don’t ever think you need to stop learning. There are two major associations you can join that will keep you up to date on your nursing practices: the American Association of Critical Care Nurses and the Emergency Nurses Association. These organizations will provide you with resources, journals and networking opportunities.