Division: Critical Care
Unit and location: Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Building A, 4th Floor
Specialty certification needed:
• BSN or non-nursing bachelor’s degree with MSN for new hires and BSN preference given to internal transfer RNs
• Minimum of one year of RN staff nurse experience
• Less than one year of experience candidates would be considered for the SH RN New Grad Residency Program
• OSBN unencumbered license
• AHA BLS
• AHA ACLS within 6 months from the hiring date
Size of unit, number of beds and treatment areas: 30 private beds
Scope of service:
• The ICU is open seven days per week, 24 hours per day.
ICU specializes in:
• Advanced critical thinking
• Promoting excellence in assessment, technical, organizational, and prioritization skills
• Providing competent nursing care for patients with varying diagnoses and multiple co-morbidities
• Understanding complex pharmacology
• Care includes hemodynamic monitoring and care, ventilator management, hypothermia therapy, device management (CRRT, ICP), pain management, wound care and patient teaching.
Most common diagnoses: Patients admitted to the ICU are critically ill with diagnoses including sepsis, respiratory failure, traumatic brain injury, multi-system organ failure, stroke, gastrointestinal bleeding, complicated post-operative issues, status post cardiac arrest, complex vascular surgery, and multi-system trauma.
Professional assets:
• ICU patients require frequent assessment and intervention to maintain hemodynamic stability through complex treatments including aggressive titration of vasopressors, pulmonary artery monitoring, advanced neurological monitoring, mechanical ventilation, CPAP/BiPAP, proning, targeted temperature management, continuous renal replacement therapy, and continuous ECG/EEG monitoring
• The team places the greatest value on patient-centered, evidence-based practice.
Shift Hours and Unit-Based Resources:
• The ICU care team is comprised of intensivists, nurses, nursing assistants, critical care techs (CCT), respiratory therapists, pharmacists, physical therapists, dietitians, care managers, and chaplains.
• The unit's average daily census is 29 patients, who are attended by a staffing skill mix consisting of a Charge RN, a Rapid Response Nurse, a Resource Nurse, and 15 or more bedside RNs, with four CNAs, and a Critical Care Tech.
Collaborative resources: The interprofessional team may include: rapid response team, house supervisor, clinical nurse specialist, unit clerk, 1:1 patient observer, transport tem, IV therapy, respiratory therapy, nutritionist, rehab activities (OT, PT, speech), clinical pharmacist, social service/case management, spiritual services, hospitalist, intensivist and an admission/discharge nurse.
Nurse manager contact:
Seunghyo Hong, MSN, RN, CCRN, NEA-BC
503-814-4114
Seunghyo.Hong@salemhealth.org