Critical care nursing is the field of nursing with a focus on the utmost care of the critically ill or unstable patients. Critical care nurses can be found working in a wide variety of environments and specialties, such as emergency departments and the intensive care units.

Training and Education

Most critical care nurses in the U.S. are Registered Nurses.  Nurses in the US who wish to obtain certification in critical care nursing can do so through a national advisory board, known as the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. This advisory board sets and maintains standards for critical care nurses. The certification offered by this board is known as CCRN. This does not stand for 'Critical Care Registered Nurse' as is popularly believed, but is merely a certification as a critical care nurse for adult, pediatric and neonatal populations.  Registration is a regulatory term for the process that occurs between the individual nurse and the state in which the nurse practices. All nurses in the US are registered as nurses without a specialty. The CCRN is an example of a post registration specialty certification in critical care.

There are also variants of critical care certification test that the AACN offers to allow nurses to certify in progressive care (PCCN), cardiac medicine (CMC) and cardiac surgery (CSC). In addition, Clinical Nurse Specialists can certify in adult, neonatal and pediatric acute and critical care (CCNS). In November, 2007, the AACN Certification Corporation launched the ACNPC, an advanced practice certification examination for Acute Care Nurse Practitioners. None of these certifications confer any additional practice privileges, as nursing practice is regulated by the individual's state board of nursing. These certifications are not required to work in an intensive care unit, but are encouraged by employers, as the tests for these certifications tend to be difficult to pass and require an extensive knowledge of both pathophysiology and critical care medical and nursing practices. The certification, while difficult to obtain, is looked upon by many in the field as demonstrating expertise in the field of critical care nursing, and demonstrating the individual's nurse's desire to advance their knowledge base and skill set, thereby allowing them to better care for their patients.