Nursing Education Requirements for Critical Care

Prerequisites

Critical care nurses start as registered nurses (RNs). Most critical care nursing jobs require, or at least strongly prefer, candidates who have an associates or bachelors degree in nursing, and have passed a national licensing exam. In addition, each state has its own additional requirements for critical care nursing.

Although critical care nursing is often offered as part of a general nursing education, the specific skills for critical care tend to come from nursing continuing education programs provided by an employer. Many subspecialties have advanced critical care certifications through a variety of sources, which allows experienced critical care nurses to both improve their skills and enhance their job opportunities. As a result, many critical care nurses earn advanced practice masters or doctoral degrees.

Nursing Certification

Specialty and sub-specialty certification is generally not required for critical care nursing jobs. Many nurses, however, choose to pursue critical care nursing certification for a variety of reasons, including:

• Many employers prefer to hire certified nurses, especially when filling travel nursing jobs
• Certification proves that a nurse has a specific, high level of knowledge in a specialty through successful completion of a rigorous, psychometrically valid, job-related examination
• Critical care nursing certification demonstrates knowledge primarily at the application/analysis level, which indicates strong critical thinking abilities and establishes a nurse as a valued employee

Many nursing certification programs require clinical hours within a specialty, which ensures that certified critical care nurses have experience as well as advanced knowledge. Certified Critical Care Nurses (CCRNs) must also work in critical care for two years before taking a certification exam. Once certified, nurses typically must renew their nursing certification every three years via continuing education and clinical experience requirements.

It is the nurse’s responsibility to make sure that his or her critical care certification comes from an approved organization, at both the state and national level. For that reason, many nurses pursue nursing certification through their employer. For more information on certification organizations, see the appropriate critical care nursing descriptions elsewhere on this Web site.

Subspecialty Certification

Critical care nurses also have the option of nursing certification within specific subspecialties within critical care. Some of these subspecialty certifications include:

• PCCN – Progressive care specialization, such as intermediate care units, direct observation units, step-down units, telemetry and transitional care units, and specialized levels of critical care.
• CMC (Cardiac Medicine Certification) – Care for acutely and critically ill cardiac patients. Practice areas include CCU, combined ICU/CCU, medical ICU and telemetry or progressive care.
• CSC (Cardiac Surgery Certification) – Care for acutely and critically ill cardiac surgery patients within the first 48 hours of surgery. These nurses work in cardiac surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and cardiovascular surgery.