Current State of Critical Care Nursing Worldwide: Current Training, Roles, Barriers, and Facilitators

Eunice Ndirangu-Mugo; Lia M Barros; Benard D Mutwiri; Constance S Shumba; Beth Waweru; Wangari Waweru Siika

doi:10.1016/j.ccc.2022.06.014

Current State of Critical Care Nursing Worldwide: Current Training, Roles, Barriers, and Facilitators

Crit Care Clin. 2022 Oct;38(4):657-693. doi: 10.1016/j.ccc.2022.06.014.

Authors

Eunice Ndirangu-Mugo¹, Lia M Barros², Benard D Mutwiri³, Constance S Shumba³, Beth Waweru³, Wangari Waweru Siika⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Nursing and Midwifery, Aga Khan University, P O Box 39340-00623, Nairobi, Kenya. Electronic address: eunice.ndirangu@aku.edu.
² Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, University of Washington Medical Center, Campus Box 356522, Seattle 98195-6522, Washington.
³ School of Nursing and Midwifery, Aga Khan University, P O Box 39340-00623, Nairobi, Kenya.
⁴ Department of Anaesthesia, Aga Khan University Hospital, P.O Box 39340-00623, Nairobi, Kenya.

PMID: 36162904
DOI: 10.1016/j.ccc.2022.06.014

Abstract

This review provides insights on the current state of roles and responsibilities, on-the-job training, barriers, and facilitators of critical care nursing (CCN) practice. Some of the established roles and training of CCN were providing care for acutely ill patients, delivering expert and specialist care, working as a part of a multidisciplinary team, monitoring, and initiating timely treatment, and providing psychosocial support and advanced system treatment, especially in high-income countries. In low-resource settings, critical care nurses work as health care assistants, technical or ancillary staff, and clinical educators; manage medications; care for mechanically ventilated patients; and provide care to deteriorating patients.

Keywords: Barriers; Critical care; Facilitators; Intensive care; Nurses; Responsibilities; Roles; Training.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Critical Care
Critical Care Nursing*
Humans