Massachusetts General Hospital | Critical Care Center

Critical Care Staff Nurse

The Norman Knight Nursing Center for Clinical & Professional Development provides a new Graduate Nurse in Critical Care Program, an intensive, six-month residency 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, didactic education, simulations and a mentoring/coaching relationship with a critical care nurse expert. 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 and family- 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.