Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · Holland code SIR
Acute Care Nurses
Provide advanced nursing care for patients with acute conditions such as heart attacks, respiratory distress syndrome, or shock. May care for pre- and post-operative patients or perform advanced, invasive diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.
Also called: Cardiovascular ICU Nurse (Cardiovascular Intense Care Unit Nurse), Cardiovascular Surgery Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (Cardiovascular Surgery ACNP), Charge Nurse, Staff Nurse, Acute Care Nurse, Cardiac Interventional Care Nurse, DSU Nurse (Day Surgery Unit Nurse), MSN (Medical Surgical Nurse).
O*NET 29-1141.01
At a glance
- US median annual pay
- $97,550
- Middle half earn $80,330 to $112,350. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree
- 57% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 4 of 5
- Considerable preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
- US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034
- +5% · Faster than average
- 3,391,000 jobs in 2024, projected 3,557,100. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Registered nurses".
What the work involves
The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.
- Discuss illnesses and treatments with patients and family members.
- Diagnose acute or chronic conditions that could result in rapid physiological deterioration or life-threatening instability.
- Perform emergency medical procedures, such as basic cardiac life support (BLS), advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), and other condition-stabilizing interventions.
- Assess urgent and emergent health conditions, using both physiologically and technologically derived data.
- Adjust settings on patients' assistive devices, such as temporary pacemakers.
- Set up, operate, or monitor invasive equipment and devices, such as colostomy or tracheotomy equipment, mechanical ventilators, catheters, gastrointestinal tubes, and central lines.
- Document data related to patients' care, including assessment results, interventions, medications, patient responses, or treatment changes.
- Administer blood and blood product transfusions or intravenous infusions, monitoring patients for adverse reactions.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Reading Comprehension4.1 / 5
- Speaking4.1 / 5
- Critical Thinking4.1 / 5
- Active Listening4.0 / 5
- Writing4.0 / 5
- Active Learning4.0 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Medicine and Dentistry4.8 / 5
- Customer and Personal Service4.3 / 5
- Education and Training4.3 / 5
- English Language4.0 / 5
- Psychology3.8 / 5
- Therapy and Counseling3.6 / 5
Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.
Who tends to enjoy it
How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.
- Realistic45
- Investigative78
- Artistic13
- Social80
- Enterprising13
- Conventional39
The same work abroad
Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.
European occupation titles (ESCO)
- advanced nurse practitioner · DE Akademischer Krankenpfleger/Akademische Krankenschwester · FR infirmier de pratique avancée/infirmière de pratique avancée
- nurse responsible for general care · DE Krankenpfleger Allgemeine Krankenpflege/Krankenschwester Allgemeine Krankenpflege · FR infirmier de soins généraux/infirmière de soins généraux
- specialist nurse · DE Fachkrankenpfleger/Fachkrankenschwester · FR infirmier spécialiste/infirmière spécialiste
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Registered community nurses (2232)70,400 employed
- Registered specialist nurses (2233)82,300 employed
- Registered nurse practitioners (2234)91,500 employed
Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.
Pay across Europe, for the whole group
Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €61,714 |
| Germany | €59,529 |
| Ireland | €56,877 |
| Austria | €55,374 |
| Netherlands | €53,595 |
| Sweden | €43,567 |
| France | €41,515 |
| Spain | €35,735 |
| Italy | €33,649 |
| Portugal | €26,072 |
| Poland | €14,380 |
Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.
Exposure to AI
This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +0.23. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.
Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.
Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (29-1141).
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