Critical Care Nurses

Critical care nursing is a relatively modern profession. While there have always been severely ill patients, medical care and technology has only recently risen to the level at which patient care has demanded such a specialty. To provide appropriate care in these times, nurses were forced to obtain more advanced and specialized skills in order to work closely with critically ill patients in need of close monitoring and aid. With the first intensive care units in the 1950s came the need for one-on-one nursing care. In 1969, the American Association of Cardiovascular Nurses was founded to represent the interests of critical-care nurses. The association, which changed its name to the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, has more than 100,000 members.