Nurses in intensive care
Who they are, what they do and which devices they use: a research-based profile for recruiting this target group for MedTech and pharma projects.
Overview
Nurses in the intensive care unit care for severely ill patients in intensive care units, after surgery or in acute emergencies. They continuously check the state of health and vital functions such as blood pressure and pulse, operating monitoring devices and ventilators for this purpose. They dress wounds, change dressings, draw blood, place infusions and nasogastric tubes and administer medication and injections as prescribed by physicians. In emergencies they initiate measures and take part in resuscitation and shock therapy. They document care, including on the computer, and advise and support patients and relatives.
Profession by country
Fields of use and typical tasks
Intensivstation
Evidence from: DE, AT, CH
- Continuously care for ventilated patients, as all beds are equipped for ventilation
- Care for patients on continuous haemofiltration
- Care for patients on circulatory support devices, ECMO and artificial heart systems
- Provide continued care for patients after cardiac surgery and after emergency treatment in the cardiac catheterisation laboratory
- Monitor heart function, blood pressure, body temperature and oxygen saturation without interruption
- React quickly when the condition deteriorates in order to stabilise patients
Specializations
Devices and systems they use
- Intensive care ventilator
- Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) machine
- ECMO system
- Advanced haemodynamic monitoring system
- Haemodialysis machine
- Ventricular assist device (VAD)
- Patient monitor
- Targeted temperature management system (therapeutic hypothermia)
- Electronic health record (EHR)
- External temporary pacemaker
- Intra-aortic balloon pump
- Intracranial pressure monitoring probe
- Patient hoist
- Peripheral IV cannula
- Electric hospital/care bed
- Volumetric infusion pump
Who they work with
- Intensive care physicians
- Physiotherapists
- Occupational therapists
- Speech and language therapists
- Respiratory therapists
- Psychologists
- Social services
- Chaplaincy
Frequently asked questions
Who operates the monitoring devices and ventilators in the intensive care unit?
According to the occupational information, intensive care nurses operate medical monitoring devices and ventilators and use them to continuously check vital functions.
Which measures do they carry out at the bedside?
They dress wounds and change dressings, draw blood, place infusions and nasogastric tubes, administer medication and injections as prescribed and take part in resuscitation and shock therapy.
When do they work?
The occupational information names willingness to work weekends and evenings; it does not name a specific shift model.
What qualification do they have?
The role is a specialisation of general nursing with its own further training in intensive care, which in Germany, as further training in intensive care and anaesthesia, also covers anaesthesia.
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Related target groups
Same work area
Same specialty
Sources
- Diplomierte/r Gesundheits- und KrankenpflegerIn Intensivpflege, Arbeitsmarktservice Österreich (AMS Berufslexikon) (AT)
- Weiterbildungs- und Prüfungsverordnung zu Fachkrankenschwestern, -pflegern in der Intensivpflege und Anästhesie (WeiVIAPfl), Land Nordrhein-Westfalen (DE)
- Zentrum für Intensivmedizin, Universitätsmedizin Essen (DE)
- Pflege der operativen und allgemeinen Intensivstation, Gesundheit Nord gGmbH Klinikverbund Bremen, Klinikum Links der Weser (DE)
- Intensivpflege: Pressemitteilung, Klinikum Wels-Grieskirchen (AT)
- Intensivstation: Informationsbroschüre, Kantonsspital Baselland (CH)
- Critical Care RNs, CoxHealth (US)
- Nursing Unit Descriptions, Southern Colorado, UCHealth Memorial Hospital (US)