About the Institute for Patient Care

The Norman Knight Nursing Center for Clinical & Professional Development’s New Graduate Nurse in Critical Care Program is an intensive six month orientation program designed to develop and support a newly licensed, baccalaureate prepared registered nurse to become a critical care staff nurse. The program facilitates the acquisition of experiential nursing knowledge and the application of theory and research through clinical preceptorship and didactic education.

Program objectives include:

Demonstrate knowledge of complex pathophysiologic processes to inform critical care nursing practice.
Identify and apply communication skills in the clinical setting to support patient- focused collaborative practice with other disciplines.
Apply principles of critical care nursing based on critical care standards of practice.
Identify key elements of clinical judgment essential to critical care nursing practice.
Apply a process of reflective practice to clinical situations.
Demonstrate an appreciation of the critical illness experience and its impact on the patient and family.
Examine ethical issues arising in critical care nursing.
Demonstrate knowledge of systems of critical care delivery and negotiation skills.

To be considered eligible for acceptance into this program, the applicant must be a baccalaureate-prepared registered nurse with less than six months of professional nursing experience. Completion of a clinical practicum in a critical care unit or experience in a patient assistive role in a critical care unit is strongly recommended.

New graduate nurses are hired as a full time staff nurse into a particular ICU team by the Nursing Director. Positions are posted on line at www.simplythebestnursingjobs.org as they become available.