AACN Essentials of Critical Care Nursing, Fourth Edition

Succinct, complete guidance on how to safely and competently care for adult, critically ill patients and their families – written by top clinical experts

A Doody’s Core Title for 2022!


Endorsed by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), this acclaimed textbook sets the standard for critical care nursing education. Recognizing the learner’s need to assimilate foundational knowledge before attempting to master more complex critical care nursing concepts, the book features a practical building-block organization that starts with the basics and logically progresses to advanced topics.


Bolstered by helpful tables and essential content cases, AACN Essentials of Critical Care Nursing is an essential tool for clinicians at the point of care, and those preparing for CCRN® certification in critical care nursing.


AACN Essentials of Critical Care Nursing, Fourth Edition is presented in four sections:

The Essentials presents core information that new clinicians must understand to provide safe, competent nursing care to all critically ill patients, regardless of their underlying medical diagnoses.

Pathologic Conditions covers pathologic conditions and management strategies commonly encountered among adult critical care patients.

Advanced Concepts in Caring for the Critically Ill Patient moves beyond the essentials and includes information about specific pathologic conditions that require specialized critical care management.

Key Reference Information features normal laboratory and diagnostic values, troubleshooting guides for hemodynamic monitoring, summary tables of critical care drugs, and cardiac rhythms and treatment guides.



Learning aids include Knowledge Competencies that can be used to gauge progress, Priniciples of Management to summarize key concepts and “Essential Content” case studies with questions and answers to further reinforce the learners’ knowledge.