How do they match: Acute Care Nurses

  • 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.

  • Assess urgent and emergent health conditions, using both physiologically and technologically derived data.
  • Interpret information obtained from electrocardiograms (EKGs) or radiographs (x-rays).
  • Provide formal and informal education to other staff members.
  • Set up, operate, or monitor invasive equipment and devices, such as colostomy or tracheotomy equipment, mechanical ventilators, catheters, gastrointestinal tubes, and central lines.

  • Operate diagnostic or therapeutic medical instruments or equipment.
  • Analyze test data or images to inform diagnosis or treatment.
  • Communicate detailed medical information to patients or family members.