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.
- • Analyze the indications, contraindications, risk complications, and cost-benefit tradeoffs of therapeutic interventions.
- • Diagnose acute or chronic conditions that could result in rapid physiological deterioration or life-threatening instability.
- • Distinguish between normal and abnormal developmental and age-related physiological and behavioral changes in acute, critical, and chronic illness.
- • Manage patients' pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions, monitoring patients' responses, and changing care plans accordingly.
- • Interpret information obtained from electrocardiograms (EKGs) or radiographs (x-rays).
- • 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.
- • Adjust settings on patients' assistive devices, such as temporary pacemakers.
- • Assess the impact of illnesses or injuries on patients' health, function, growth, development, nutrition, sleep, rest, quality of life, or family, social and educational relationships.
- • Collaborate with members of multidisciplinary health care teams to plan, manage, or assess patient treatments.
- • Discuss illnesses and treatments with patients and family members.
- • Document data related to patients' care, including assessment results, interventions, medications, patient responses, or treatment changes.
- • Treat wounds or superficial lacerations.
- • Set up, operate, or monitor invasive equipment and devices, such as colostomy or tracheotomy equipment, mechanical ventilators, catheters, gastrointestinal tubes, and central lines.
- • Obtain specimens or samples for laboratory work.
- • 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.
- • Participate in patients' care meetings and conferences.
- • Refer patients for specialty consultations or treatments.
- • Administer blood and blood product transfusions or intravenous infusions, monitoring patients for adverse reactions.
- • Assist patients in organizing their health care system activities.
- • Assess the needs of patients' family members or caregivers.
- • Collaborate with patients to plan for future health care needs or to coordinate transitions and referrals.
- • Read current literature, talk with colleagues, and participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in acute care.
- • Participate in the development of practice protocols.
- • Perform administrative duties that facilitate admission, transfer, or discharge of patients.
- • Provide formal and informal education to other staff members.
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Healthcare & Human Services
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
