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Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Nurse

Adult medical and surgical patients requiring intensive monitoring, vasoactive drips, and often mechanical ventilation.

Who these nurses care for

Adult medical and surgical patients requiring intensive monitoring, vasoactive drips, and often mechanical ventilation.

What the shift actually looks like

Twelve-hour shifts with two patients, or one if someone is proning or on CRRT. The day is built around hourly assessments, drip titration, and the handful of moments where a patient turns and everything else stops. Rounds are multidisciplinary in most units and the nurse is expected to present.

Credentials and certifications

Typically required
BLS, ACLS; CCRN strongly preferred; NIH Stroke Scale in many facilities
Typical ratio
Typically 1:2, dropping to 1:1 for unstable or proned patients

What to specify when you send the req

Vent population, drip titration expectations, CRRT experience, and whether the unit is open or closed.

Why this role is hard to fill

CCRN-certified ICU nurses are among the most competed-for clinicians in the country. Facilities that do not specify drip and vent experience precisely tend to receive step-down nurses who cannot hold the assignment.

What candidates ask before accepting

Answering these in the req itself shortens the process considerably, because they are the questions that otherwise surface at offer stage and cause declines: Ratio during codes, whether there is a dedicated rapid response team, and how often ICU nurses get pulled to step-down.

Contract or permanent?

Contract for census swings, leave coverage and seasonal surge. Per diem to protect ratios without expanding core FTE. Permanent when the seat is structural. The expensive mistake is running contract labour for eighteen months on a role that was always permanent.

Licensure

Registered nursing is covered by the Nurse Licensure Compact in most of the country, so a multistate license lets a nurse work across member states without a new application. Thirteen jurisdictions sit outside it — Alaska, California, DC, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands — and in those markets every out-of-state nurse needs a single-state license first. Those are the markets where reqs stay open longest.

How we work this req

Every candidate is spoken to before you see them, with licensure for your state, certifications and unit-specific competency confirmed before submittal. We screen to the credential the unit actually needs rather than the title on the posting. Rates sit inside the ranges on our published cost breakdown.

Common questions

What certifications does a ICU nurse need?

BLS, ACLS; CCRN strongly preferred; NIH Stroke Scale in many facilities.

What is the typical typical ratio in ICU?

Typically 1:2, dropping to 1:1 for unstable or proned patients.

Why is ICU hard to fill?

CCRN-certified ICU nurses are among the most competed-for clinicians in the country. Facilities that do not specify drip and vent experience precisely tend to receive step-down nurses who cannot hold the assignment.

What do candidates ask before accepting a ICU assignment?

Ratio during codes, whether there is a dedicated rapid response team, and how often ICU nurses get pulled to step-down.

Other units in Critical & Acute Care

See all nursing specialties or our nursing staffing overview.

Need ICU coverage?

Tell us the ratio, the equipment and the start date, and we will tell you the realistic fill window.