CVICU Nurse: Nursing Specialties Breakdown

• Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) nurses specialize in providing critical care to those experiencing cardiovascular conditions.  
• A CVICU nurse must be a Registered Nurse, licensed to work in the state where they’re working.   
• CVICU nurses in the U.S. could earn between $70,000-$120,000 on average annually. 

Are you interested in becoming a critical care nurse? You may have heard they make the most money for hospital bedside nursing, and you’re interested in the critical care setting for complex patients. This may be the place for you to be your best nurse self!  

What is a CVICU Nurse?

Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) nurses specialize in critical care for those experiencing cardiovascular conditions, from surgeries and heart procedures to acute cardiac conditions. CVICU nurses work at a hospital within a cardiac ICU, typically in a 12-hour shift. CVICU nurses work with patients needing cardiac surgery, recovering from surgery, and experiencing sudden cardiac issues that require advanced care.  

They perform the same duties as medical surgical nurses, including monitoring vital signs, administering medications, and collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to ensure comprehensive and specialized treatment plans for recovery. However, they have added critical care knowledge and skills for these complex patients.   

What Training is Required to Become a CVICU Nurse?

A CVICU nurse must be a registered nurse, licensed to work in the state where they’re employed. The nurse doesn’t need a bachelor’s degree in nursing, but many hospitals prefer the BSN to the associate degree in nursing (ADN).  

In addition, the nurse must complete a critical care course, often offered by the hospital itself. A critical care course expands on general medical-surgical nursing knowledge and adds advanced skills in equipment such as arterial lines, central lines, and IV vasoactive medications that will be titrated based on the patient’s response. Additionally, CVICU nurses work with patients who not only have cardiac disorders but complex comorbidities such as respiratory, hepatobiliary, metabolic, and renal diseases, making their cardiac issues more complex (Dudinski & Januzzi, 2017).   

Unique Skills of a CVICU Nurse

On-site training and shadowing are often required, which allows the nurse to apply the newly acquired advanced knowledge and skills directly to patient care. For example, adding basic information about cardiac monitoring, such as telemetry to a 12-lead EKG, active bedside cardiac monitoring, and recognizing myocardial infarcts and dysrhythmias. Nurses must know basic lifesaving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (BLS CPR), but a CVICU nurse must know advanced cardiac lifesaving (ACLS) algorithms. There is a lot to learn, and having more knowledge to help patients is fun.   

 Experienced nurses looking to specialize in CVICU may pursue additional training through certification programs for critical care nursing or cardiovascular nursing. Organizations such as the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses offer certifications for Critical Care Registered Nurses (CCRN) or Cardiothoracic Surgery Certification (CSC), among others. Advanced certifications demonstrate increased knowledge and abilities of CVICU nurses specific to cardiac intensive care unit settings. Because of continual advances in medicine and cardiac care technology, staying abreast of advances in cardiovascular healthcare is crucial if you wish to provide high-quality, evidence-based care within this niche field.

How Much Can a CVICU Nurse Make?

Salary rates for CVICU nurses vary based on location, experience, education, and which healthcare facility employs them. Critical care nursing (including CVICU nursing) tends to command higher salaries than other nursing specializations due to the advanced skills and technical knowledge required.  

On average, CVICU nurses in the U.S. could earn between $70,000 and $120,000 annually. Urban areas or regions with higher living costs tend to provide higher salaries. CVICU nurses with advanced degrees, certifications, and considerable years of experience may earn higher wages.   

Example of a Typical CVICU Shift

In the CVICU, 12-hour shifts are challenging yet rewarding. They consist of various critical care activities to support cardiac surgery patients; patients with acute cardiac conditions who are recovering after surgery; or patients experiencing acute cardiac conditions unrelated to surgery. A nurse working in the critical care unit must maintain high standards to meet this demand for patient well-being.  

At the start of a typical shift, nurses receive a detailed handover from previous shifts, which reviews each patient’s medical history, treatment plan, and any changes in condition (not unsimilar to any other hospital nurse). However, the details and complexity are advanced.   

As part of any shift, closely monitoring vital signs is of utmost importance, with frequent assessments of cardiac rhythm, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation levels — often hourly and sometimes every 15 minutes — on bedside monitors. Medication administration, including intravenous drugs used to relieve pain, regulate blood pressure, and support cardiac function, is an ongoing responsibility. CVICU nurses collaborate with healthcare team members such as cardiac surgeons, cardiologists, and respiratory therapists to provide comprehensive patient care.   

Frequent patient assessments take place, including neurological status evaluation, respiratory function tests, and cardiovascular stability reviews. Interventions such as titrating medications, adjusting ventilator settings, or providing mobility support will be implemented. After cardiac surgery, CVICU nurses monitor and maintain chest tubes and even discontinue them and arterial lines, PICC lines, and other equipment as needed.   

Wound care after cardiac surgeries is also a high priority to ensure their incisions stay clean and infection-free. Patient and family education is a continuing process for nursing staff. When an emergency strikes, rapid response and advanced life support skills must come into play quickly, forcing nurses to make fast decisions under pressure. Documentation must be conducted accurately, detailing changes in patient status, treatments administered, and responses to interventions.  

As each shift ends, nurses collaborate with their successor nursing teams for an orderly handover process to ensure continuity of care. Such activities demonstrate how the specialized skillset required by this nursing specialization must be applied successfully in providing superior cardiovascular patient care.  

The Bottom Line

CVICU nurses have advanced nursing skills and knowledge to work with complex patients with cardiac disorders and other comorbidities. Because of the training and experience required, CVICU nurses can earn higher hospital wages than general medical-surgical nurses, varying from $45 to $90 per hour. The work is complex and rewarding.  

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