Institute:Office of National Coordinator (ONC) Workforce Training Curriculum
Component:The Culture of Health Care
Unit:Nursing Care Processes
Lecture:Nursing routines and procedures including performing invasive procedures, administering medication, documenting procedures, and using technology
Slide content:Acute Care Nursing Acute care nurses Treat urgent problems Work in emergency departments, urgent care clinics, and surgical centers Work in inpatient settings and skilled medical care settings Includes critical care nurses 5
Slide notes:Nurses provide a wide range of services to patients and their families in many different settings. This slide and the following slides describe where many nurses work and what they do there. Acute care nurses treat patients who need immediate treatment or monitoring. Depending on their qualifications, acute care nurses might screen, diagnose, or treat patients in an emergency department, an urgent care clinic, or at a surgical clinic. Acute care nurses manage a wide range of patient injuries and illnesses, both medical and surgical. These nurses may care for patients who are recovering from surgery or an invasive procedure at independent surgical centers and hospital surgical departments. Acute care nurses care for patients whose problems are not life threatening but require skilled medical care in the inpatient setting. Critical care nurses, on the other hand, care for patients with ongoing life-threatening problems, often in hospital settings such as intensive care units where they provide highly skilled nursing care. Larger health care organizations may have specialty intensive care units such cardiac intensive care, medical intensive care, or surgical intensive care units. 5