What does a progressive care nurse do?
Progressive care nurses are nursing professionals who are responsible for monitoring the condition of patients that are admitted to the hospital's progressive care unit (PCU). These nurses are required to observe the acutely ill patients for critical vital signs and detect any changes while initiating life-saving interventions when needed. They must interpret measurements from specialized medical equipment while performing diagnostic assessments on the changes in the measurements. Progressive care nurses must also update patient files and report any deteriorating conditions to healthcare specialists.
Progressive care nurse responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real progressive care nurse resumes:
- Manage patient pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacological and non-pharmacological intervention, monitor patient response and record care plans accordingly.
- Develop, implement and evaluate patients' rehabilitation goals to facilitate patient satisfaction.
- Utilize EMR for charting, medication ordering, and referrals
- Stage, measure, photograph wounds and document in EMR system.
- Used strict aseptic technique during the dialysis procedure and when caring for the peritoneal catheter.
- Set up and operate equipment as needed: EKG, cardiac monitors, suction and respiratory equipment.
- Educate patients about chronic condition management, medications, and provide anticipatory guidance.
- Care for patients in need of cardiac and respiratory monitoring, including ventilator-dependent patients.
- Monitor and adjust specialized equipment used on patients and interpret and record ECG tracings.
- Coordinate with rehabilitation team in scheduling and coordinating formalities for patient transfers to medical facilities etc.
- Manage patient pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacological and non-pharmacological intervention, monitor patient response and record care plans accordingly.
- Interpret ECG strips, and file signed strip report in patient floor chart.
- Participated/Organize immunization clinics company wide.
Progressive care nurse skills and personality traits
We calculated that 23% of Progressive Care Nurses are proficient in Patients, BLS, and Progressive Care. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Compassion, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Progressive Care Nurses that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 23%
Case Manager/Utilization Review for managed care patients including continued stay review updates with insurance providers.
- BLS, 14%
Use of ACLS, PALS and BLS protocols.
- Progressive Care, 8%
Provided focused nursing care alongside interdisciplinary team to transition patient out of progressive care and onto regular unit.
- Acute Care, 6%
Close monitoring and management of acute care/PCU patients facilitating progress towards discharge or inpatient status.
- Acls, 6%
Participate in Code Team as recorder and assist with Code Blue as a certified ACLS nurse.
- Telemetry, 5%
Monitored cardiac telemetry and worked closely with physicians through communication and action.
"patients," "bls," and "progressive care" are among the most common skills that progressive care nurses use at work. You can find even more progressive care nurse responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for a progressive care nurse to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what progressive care nurses do because "registered nurses must be able to communicate effectively with patients in order to understand their concerns and evaluate their health conditions." Additionally, a progressive care nurse resume shows how progressive care nurses use communication skills: "case manager for physician along with initiation and communication to home health agencies and dme companies. "
Compassion. Another essential skill to perform progressive care nurse duties is compassion. Progressive care nurses responsibilities require that "registered nurses should be caring and empathetic when working with patients." Progressive care nurses also use compassion in their role according to a real resume snippet: "received multiple nominations for the daisy award due to the compassion and empathy exhibited toward patients and their families. "
Detail oriented. This is an important skill for progressive care nurses to perform their duties. For an example of how progressive care nurse responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "registered nurses must be precise because they must ensure that patients get the correct treatments and medicines at the right time." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a progressive care nurse: "zero errors in medication administration by applying attention to detail. ".
Emotional stability. A big part of what progressive care nurses do relies on "emotional stability." You can see how essential it is to progressive care nurse responsibilities because "registered nurses need emotional resilience and the ability to cope with human suffering, emergencies, and other stressors." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical progressive care nurse tasks: "provided education, nutritional and emotional support to patients"
Organizational skills. A commonly-found skill in progressive care nurse job descriptions, "organizational skills" is essential to what progressive care nurses do. Progressive care nurse responsibilities rely on this skill because "nurses often work with multiple patients who have a variety of health needs." You can also see how progressive care nurse duties rely on organizational skills in this resume example: "contributed to organizational growth initiatives along with preceptor duties instructing new nurses in crisis intervention, medication administration and resuscitation. "
Physical stamina. Lastly, "physical stamina" is an important element of what a progressive care nurse does. Progressive care nurse responsibilities require this skill because "nurses should be comfortable performing physical tasks, such as lifting patients." This resume example highlights how progressive care nurse duties rely on this skill: "assess patient physical, psychological, educational, discharge planning needs. "
The three companies that hire the most progressive care nurses are:
- Trusted Health Plans303 progressive care nurses jobs
- American Mobile Healthcare101 progressive care nurses jobs
- WakeMed56 progressive care nurses jobs
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Compare different progressive care nurses
Progressive care nurse vs. Nurse
Nurses are medical professionals assigned to a specific department in the hospital and provide their trusted department services. Nurses are in charge of taking patients' medical histories, getting vital signs, preparing patients for checkups or procedures, explaining upcoming practices, answering any questions, and communicating any concerns to the assigned doctor. Nurses should ensure that patients follow the medical advice given to them. They also assist patients in completing administrative requirements, such as filling out forms, validating details, and endorsing payments.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, progressive care nurse responsibilities require skills like "progressive care," "taking care," "chest tubes," and "close monitoring." Meanwhile a typical nurse has skills in areas such as "emergency situations," "triage," "surgery," and "appeals." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Nurses earn the highest salaries when working in the government industry, with an average yearly salary of $63,263. On the other hand, progressive care nurses are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $62,826.On average, nurses reach similar levels of education than progressive care nurses. Nurses are 0.0% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Progressive care nurse vs. Icu staff nurse staff
As the name entails, emergency room nurses typically work in emergency rooms of hospitals to provide care for patients in need of immediate treatment for severe medical conditions such as injury or trauma. They work with a team of healthcare professionals such as physicians and other nurses to administer medications to patients, monitor health conditions, and plan for long-term care needs. Other duties of emergency room nurses include assisting with the diagnosis and treatment of patients, maintaining a sanitary, organized, and clean work environment, and providing patients with follow-up care instructions.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real progressive care nurse resumes. While progressive care nurse responsibilities can utilize skills like "progressive care," "acute care," "taking care," and "close monitoring," icu staff nurse staff use skills like "life support," "good interpersonal," "registered nursing," and "ccrn."
Icu staff nurse staff earn a higher average salary than progressive care nurses. But icu staff nurse staff earn the highest pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $68,704. Additionally, progressive care nurses earn the highest salaries in the health care with average pay of $62,826 annually.icu staff nurse staff earn similar levels of education than progressive care nurses in general. They're 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for progressive care nurses in the next 3-5 years?
Lisa Rebeschi Ph.D.
Associate Dean of the School of Nursing Professor of Nursing, Quinnipiac University
Progressive care nurse vs. Emergency room nurse
The job of registered medical-surgical nurses is to care for patients with either surgical or non-surgical conditions. They are responsible for aiding patients to cope with their illness, prevent diseases, and promote good health. Entry-level registered nurses often rely on standardized care plans and medical procedures and make scientific-based nursing judgments. On the other hand, intermediate level nurses are more skilled in developing care plans that meet client needs. Requirements to become a medical-surgical nurse include a college degree in nursing, excellent assessment and observation skills, and patient education skills.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a progressive care nurse is likely to be skilled in "progressive care," "telemetry," "taking care," and "close monitoring," while a typical emergency room nurse is skilled in "triage," "tncc," "life support," and "emergency care."
Emergency room nurses earn the best pay in the health care industry, where they command an average salary of $72,872. Progressive care nurses earn the highest pay from the health care industry, with an average salary of $62,826.When it comes to education, emergency room nurses tend to earn similar degree levels compared to progressive care nurses. In fact, they're 0.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Progressive care nurse vs. Registered nurse med/surg
Even though a few skill sets overlap between progressive care nurses and registered nurse med/surgs, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a progressive care nurse might have more use for skills like "progressive care," "quality care," "cpr," and "pressure ulcers." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of registered nurse med/surgs require skills like "patient safety," "patient outcomes," "oncology," and "quality patient care. "
The health care industry tends to pay the highest salaries for registered nurse med/surgs, with average annual pay of $74,800. Comparatively, the highest progressive care nurse annual salary comes from the health care industry.The average resume of registered nurse med/surgs showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to progressive care nurses. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 2.7% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.2%.Types of progressive care nurse
Updated January 8, 2025
