Definition:

Critical Care Nursing is one of the most distinguished branches of nursing profession, which, by improving nursing care, management, education, ethic, and professional behavior, tries to reduce mortality and illness complications in critical care settings.

Critical care nursing is the field of nursing that focuses on the utmost care of the critically ill or unstable patients. These specialists generally take care of critically ill patients who require mechanical ventilation by using endotracheal intubation and vasoactive intravenous medications. Critical care nurses are also known as ICU nurses. They treat patients who are chronically ill or at the risk for deadly illnesses. ICU nurses apply their specialized knowledge to care for and maintain the life support of critically ill patients who are often on the verge of death. On a day-to-day basis a critical care nurse will commonly perform assessments of critical conditions, give intensive therapy and intervention, advocate for their patients, and operate/maintain life support systems, which include mechanical ventilation via endotracheal, tracheal, or naso-tracheal intubation, and titration of continuous vasoactive intravenous medications in order to maintain a mean arterial pressure that ensures adequate organ and tissue perfusion.

Purpose of the program is to minimize mortality, illness complications, and to improve nursing practice in critical care settings as well as training competent, skillful, and responsible nurses.

Aims:

The aim of the program is to train proficient, knowledgeable, competent, ethically aware, and responsible professionals who would have sufficient knowledge and abilities to work confidently in their main area of expertise (care of critically ill patients) and also to give them extra abilities such as:

1.  Improved nursing knowledge and skills
2.  Better vision and ability to deliver high standard nursing care to patients in critical care units
3.  Interpersonal, group and electronic communications skills, lifelong learning, research, management, problem solving skills
4. Improve knowledge and skills in professional manner and behavior
5.  IT skills and data retrieve
6. Improved necessary knowledge and skills in relation to management, organization, planning and training of critical care nurses
7.  Improved nursing knowledge and skills by participating in training courses and study as well as continuous self-evaluation
8. improved abilities of critical thinking and problem solving

Total number of credits: 32 including: Basic courses: 9 credits, Specialized courses: 19 credits and  Dissertation: 4 credits