Critical Care RN Job Description Template

Critical care nurses specialize in providing life-sustaining care to patients with serious medical conditions. Given the acuity of their patients, they must be highly attentive and adept at making quick and sound clinical decisions. When hiring for this role, creating a targeted critical care RN job description will help you attract applicants with the right qualifications.

To help you with the recruitment process, we’ve created an example job description for critical care RN candidates that can be easily tailored to your needs. Pair this template with thoughtful interview questions to identify the best nurse for your team. Need more insights? Explore current critical care RN job openings and learn how to make your facility stand out from the rest.

Critical Care RN

Tips: This is the first section of your job description where you’ll want to briefly introduce the role of the critical care RN and your facility. This might shape a candidate’s first impression of your work culture, so think of ways to highlight your top values. You can share any notable awards your team has won, employee perks, or a snippet about your facility’s mission.

Critical care is a specialty that can encompass many different types of settings, so make sure to specify the type of unit you’re hiring for. Candidates will want to know if they’re applying to work in an intensive care unit, emergency department, or some other specialized setting.

Template:

[Facility name] is looking for an experienced critical care RN to join the intensive care unit at our conveniently located downtown location. As the largest hospital system in the state, we pride ourselves on delivering high quality services to diverse patient populations. Our overarching goal of giving back to the community represents everything that we do at [facility name], and our RNs play essential roles in helping further this mission.

We place high value on fostering an inclusive, collaborative, and healthy work environment, which enables our staff to provide the best care possible. If this aligns with your workstyle, we invite you to explore all of the exceptional benefits that we offer below!

Benefits

Tips: This next section of your hospital critical care RN job description should outline all of the most notable benefits that are available to your nurses. If your team has any career development or educational opportunities, make sure to list them here as well.

Remember to adapt this section to accurately represent what your facility offers. This will prevent any potential misunderstandings later in the hiring process.

Template:

• 401(k) retirement matching plans
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 18 days PTO, plus sick days and mental health days
• 1.5x holiday pay rate and shift differentials
• Employee assistance programs (EAPs)
• Education assistance (tuition reimbursement, CE credits, scholarships)
• Clinical career ladder programs

Duties and Responsibilities

Tips: Your prospective applicants will want to know what their day-to-day will look like if they get the job. Here, you’ll want to bullet all of the key duties and responsibilities in order of relevance.

Remember, a critical care transport RN job description will list duties that are distinct from other types of hospital settings. If you need more specific guidance for a transport role, take a look at our flight nurse job description template.

Template:

• Utilizes the nursing process to assess, diagnose, plan, and implement care for patients with complex medical conditions.
• Includes the patient and family in care planning and maintains a therapeutic relationship throughout the patient’s stay.
• Anticipates significant changes in the patient’s condition, monitors status, and identifies need for emergent nursing intervention.
• Integrates evidence-based practice and research findings into nursing practice.
• Promotes safety measures to prevent patient and staff harm.
• Encourages collaboration among the healthcare team and delegates appropriately to unlicensed assistive personnel.

Compensation and Schedule

Tips: For a high-demand profession like nursing, writing a transparent job description is essential for attracting top applicants. You can demonstrate transparency by listing a critical care nurse salary range in addition to the expected schedule and work location. This will also ensure that your applicants’ expectations are aligned with what the role offers early on.

Template:

• Annual salary of $75,000 – $99,000, with final offer determined based on qualifications and experience
• Full-time, 12-hour night shifts (7p – 7:30a)
• Unit: Adult ICU
• Location: [insert city, state]

Skills and Qualifications

Tips: Now, you’ll want to list all the credentials that candidates will need to apply for the role. This includes the critical care nurse education requirements, skills, licenses/certifications, and past experience that you’re requiring applicants to have. You should also specify whether certain skills are “preferred” or “required” as this will ensure that all qualified applicants are encouraged to apply.

Template:

• BSN from an accredited nursing program required
• Active RN license in the state of [insert state] required
• BLS and ACLS certification from the AHA
• At least 1 year of nursing experience required, critical care experience preferred
• CCRN certification preferred

Call to Action

Tips: In this last section of your critical care RN job description, you should plug a brief call to action that invites interested candidates to take the next step. This should include a link to your application portal or the contact information for whoever candidates should be sending their documents to.

Template:

Interested in joining a top-tier healthcare organization that truly cares about you? Click here to start your application today. We look forward to hearing from you!

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