Description
Provide specialized nursing care for patients in critical or coronary care units.
- • Identify patients' age-specific needs and alter care plans as necessary to meet those needs.
- • Provide post-mortem care.
- • Evaluate patients' vital signs or laboratory data to determine emergency intervention needs.
- • Perform approved therapeutic or diagnostic procedures, based upon patients' clinical status.
- • Administer blood and blood products, monitoring patients for signs and symptoms related to transfusion reactions.
- • Administer medications intravenously, by injection, orally, through gastric tubes, or by other methods.
- • Advocate for patients' and families' needs, or provide emotional support for patients and their families.
- • Set up and monitor medical equipment and devices such as cardiac monitors, mechanical ventilators and alarms, oxygen delivery devices, transducers, or pressure lines.
- • Monitor patients' fluid intake and output to detect emerging problems, such as fluid and electrolyte imbalances.
- • Monitor patients for changes in status and indications of conditions such as sepsis or shock and institute appropriate interventions.
- • Assess patients' pain levels or sedation requirements.
- • Assess patients' psychosocial status and needs, including areas such as sleep patterns, anxiety, grief, anger, and support systems.
- • Collaborate with other health care professionals to develop and revise treatment plans, based on identified needs and assessment data.
- • Collect specimens for laboratory tests.
- • Compile and analyze data obtained from monitoring or diagnostic tests.
- • Conduct pulmonary assessments to identify abnormal respiratory patterns or breathing sounds that indicate problems.
- • Document patients' medical histories and assessment findings.
- • Document patients' treatment plans, interventions, outcomes, or plan revisions.
- • Identify patients at risk of complications due to nutritional status.
- • Prioritize nursing care for assigned critically ill patients, based on assessment data or identified needs.
- • Assist physicians with procedures such as bronchoscopy, endoscopy, endotracheal intubation, or elective cardioversion.
- • Ensure that equipment or devices are properly stored after use.
- • Identify malfunctioning equipment or devices.
- • Assess family adaptation levels and coping skills to determine whether intervention is needed.
- • Coordinate patient care conferences.
- • Participate in professional organizations and continuing education to improve practice knowledge and skills.
- • Participate in the development, review, or evaluation of nursing practice protocols.
- • Plan, provide, or evaluate educational programs for nursing staff, interdisciplinary health care team members, or community members.
- • Supervise and monitor unit nursing staff.
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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
