Critical Care Nurses
Provide specialized nursing care for patients in critical or coronary care units.
Also called: Certified Critical Care Nurse · Critical Care Nurse Practitioner · Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN) · ICU Critical Care NP (Intensive Care Unit Critical Care Nurse Practitioner) · ICU Nurse (Intensive Care Unit Nurse) · Intensive Care Unit Registered Nurse (ICU RN)
Median pay (national)
$93,600
$66,030–$135,320 (10th–90th)
Employed (US)
3,282,010
BLS OEWS, May 2024
Outlook 2024–34
+4.9%
~189,100 openings/yr
Typical entry
Bachelor's degree
What the numbers say
Refit analysis ·Pay for critical care nurses shows a broad range: the top 10% earn $135,320 versus $66,030 at the bottom 10% — 2.0x. The median of $93,600 leaves roughly 45% of headroom to the 90th percentile, which is where seniority, specialization, and the skills below tend to pay off.
Refit analysis ·Employment is projected to change +4.9% from 2024 to 2034 — faster than the 3% all-occupation average. Even so, BLS projects about 189,100 openings a year, mostly to replace workers who retire or change careers.
Refit analysis ·Where you work moves the number a lot. Across the 53 states with released data, California pays the most for this role (median $140,330, +50% vs the national median), while Puerto Rico sits lowest at $37,780 — a 271% spread for the same job title.
Refit analysis ·O*NET rates Monitoring, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening as the highest-importance skills here — so a resume aimed at this role should lead with evidence of those, not a generic skills list.
Tailor your resume to Critical Care Nurses
Honest tailoring
See how your resume lines up with Critical Care Nurses
Refit re-angles your real experience toward this role using the skills above — and never invents skills you don't have. A no-fabrication gate checks every change before you see it.
Free. No account needed to see your first re-fit.
Top skills employers ask for
Ranked by O*NET importance for this occupation.
- Monitoring
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Active Learning
- Writing
- Science
- Learning Strategies
- Mathematics
What they actually do
Core O*NET tasks for this role.
- Evaluate patients' vital signs or laboratory data to determine emergency intervention needs.
- Administer medications intravenously, by injection, orally, through gastric tubes, or by other methods.
- Monitor patients' fluid intake and output to detect emerging problems, such as fluid and electrolyte imbalances.
- Document patients' medical histories and assessment findings.
- Collect specimens for laboratory tests.
- Set up and monitor medical equipment and devices such as cardiac monitors, mechanical ventilators and alarms, oxygen delivery devices, transducers, or pressure lines.
- Administer blood and blood products, monitoring patients for signs and symptoms related to transfusion reactions.
- Assess family adaptation levels and coping skills to determine whether intervention is needed.
- Assist physicians with procedures such as bronchoscopy, endoscopy, endotracheal intubation, or elective cardioversion.
- Supervise and monitor unit nursing staff.
Tools & technology
- eClinicalWorks EHR software
- Epic Systems
- MEDITECH software
- Allscripts Professional EHR
- American Association of Critical Care Nurses AACN Medicopeia
- Amkai AmkaiCharts
- Bizmatics PrognoCIS EMR
- Cerner Millennium
- ChartWare EMR
- e-MDs software
- GE Healthcare Centricity EMR
- Google Drive
- MEDITECH Healthcare Information System HCIS
- Medscribbler Enterprise
- MicroFour PracticeStudio.NET EMR
- NextGen Healthcare Information Systems EMR
Knowledge areas
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Customer and Personal Service
- Psychology
- English Language
- Biology
- Mathematics
- Therapy and Counseling
- Education and Training