Acute Care Nurses

Bright outlookJob zone 3: medium preparationO*NET 29-1141.01

Pay and outlook shown for

median pay per year, San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX

$66k10th$94kMedian$123k90th

New workers start near $66,430; experienced workers reach $122,990. About 23,660 people do this job in San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX.

Job outlook

Alamo region (San Antonio and 12 surrounding counties), Texas Workforce Commission projection 2024 to 2034; U.S. figures from the BLS.

Employment change: +16.3%; Alamo region, 24,492 to 28,477 jobs · U.S. +5%
Openings a year: 1,712; in the Alamo region, from growth and people leaving · U.S. 189,100
Employed in 2024: 24,492; in the Alamo region · U.S. 3,391,000

Typical entry education: Bachelor's degree

Alamo Colleges programs that lead here

9 programs, with the college that teaches each.

Apply to Alamo Colleges

Skills this career uses

The skills O*NET rates most important for the job, with how much of each the work needs on a 1 to 7 scale.

Social Perceptiveness4.6
Reading Comprehension4.5
Monitoring4.1
Speaking4.0
Critical Thinking4.0
Active Listening3.9
Service Orientation3.9
Judgment and Decision Making4.0

What the work is

Provide advanced nursing care for patients with acute conditions such as heart attacks, respiratory distress syndrome, or shock. May care for pre- and post-operative patients or perform advanced, invasive diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.

Diagnose acute or chronic conditions that could result in rapid physiological deterioration or life-threatening instability.
Distinguish between normal and abnormal developmental and age-related physiological and behavioral changes in acute, critical, and chronic illness.
Manage patients' pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions, monitoring patients' responses, and changing care plans accordingly.
Interpret information obtained from electrocardiograms (EKGs) or radiographs (x-rays).
Perform emergency medical procedures, such as basic cardiac life support (BLS), advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), and other condition-stabilizing interventions.
Assess urgent and emergent health conditions, using both physiologically and technologically derived data.

Education people in this job have

Share of workers by highest education, from O*NET surveys. It shows what others did, not what you must do.

Certificate4%
Associate degree50%
Bachelor's degree39%
Master's degree7%

Job zone 3, medium preparation: Training, an associate degree, or a few years of related experience.

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