--- title: Critical Care Nursing description: This specialty addresses the care of patients with life-threatening conditions. Learners will understand how to monitor unstable patients, administer complex therapies, and make rapid clinical decisions in intensive care units and emergency settings. category: health-medicine subcategory: nursing difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/critical-care-nursing --- # Critical Care Nursing This specialty addresses the care of patients with life-threatening conditions. Learners will understand how to monitor unstable patients, administer complex therapies, and make rapid clinical decisions in intensive care units and emergency settings. ## Available Resources 3 Books • 1 Courses • 4 Websites ## Websites ### 1. AllNurses.com Long-running nursing community forum's critical care section, where ICU and stepdown nurses discuss orientation, drips, ventilator management, staffing, and certification. Useful for seeing how practising nurses handle situations that textbooks describe only in general terms. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://allnurses.com/critical-care-nursing/ **Tags:** icu, critical-care, nursing-community, forum, clinical-practice ### 2. FreshRN.com Articles and checklists for new ICU nurses written by a former neurocritical care nurse, covering common drips, ventilator basics, hand-off report, time management, and the skills and diagnoses to master first. Practical orientation-stage material rather than exam content. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.freshrn.com/icu/ **Tags:** icu, new-grad-nurse, critical-care, clinical-skills, nursing ### 3. aacn.org AACN.org is the official site of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, serving as the professional hub for critical care nursing. It provides practice standards and position statements, certification and continuing education (including CCRN prep), journals, clinical resources, and advocacy to advance high-quality critical care. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://aacn.org **Tags:** websites, health-medicine, nursing ### 4. allnurses.com AllNurses.com is a comprehensive nursing community and resource hub for nurses and nursing students. It features forums, articles, and career resources, plus a job board and clinical topic coverage for professional development. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://allnurses.com **Tags:** websites, health-medicine, nursing ## Courses ### 1. CCRN Certification Prep Ace the CCRN exam! Prepare with this comprehensive online course in critical care nursing, taught by AACN faculty. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.aacn.org/education/online-courses **Tags:** ccrn, critical-care, nursing-certification, exam-prep, continuing-education ## Books ### 1. Critical Care Nursing: Diagnosis and Management **Author:** Linda D. Urden, Kathleen M. Stacy, Mary E. Lough Body-system textbook pairing pathophysiology with nursing assessment, diagnostic tests, and management plans across cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurologic, renal, and multisystem disorders in the ICU. Standard reference for intensive care nurses and CCRN candidates. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0815136927?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, health-medicine, nursing ### 2. AACN Essentials of Critical Care Nursing **Author:** Suzanne M. Burns, Sarah A. Delgado Reference from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses covering assessment, hemodynamic monitoring, ventilation, and organ-system emergencies. Readers finish able to recognize deterioration in unstable patients and justify common ICU interventions. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1260116751?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, health-medicine, nursing ### 3. Introduction to Critical Care Nursing **Author:** Mary Lou Sole, Deborah Goldenberg Klein, Marthe J. Moseley Elsevier textbook organizing critical care by body system, with case studies and nursing care plans for cardiac, pulmonary, renal, and neurologic emergencies. Prepares new ICU nurses to assess unstable patients and plan evidence-based interventions. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0323377033?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, health-medicine, nursing --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/critical-care-nursing