CCRN topics

At 21% this is the largest single category on the adult CCRN. It covers adrenal insufficiency, diabetes insipidus, DKA and hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic state, SIADH and thyroid disorders; anaemia, coagulopathies such as DIC, HIT and ITP, myelosuppression, oncologic emergencies and transfusion reactions including TRALI and TACO; GI haemorrhage, bowel obstruction and infarction, hepatic failure and abdominal compartment syndrome; acute kidney injury and renal replacement therapy; and wounds and pressure injuries.

Professional Caring and Ethical Practice is a full 20% of the adult CCRN and is built on the AACN Synergy Model's nurse characteristics: advocacy and moral agency, caring practices, clinical inquiry, collaboration, facilitation of learning, response to diversity, and systems thinking. It is tested as judgement in real ICU situations — surrogate decision-making, moral distress, evidence-based practice change, handover, family presence and resource escalation — not as definitions.

This category is 18% of the adult CCRN. It covers ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke, intracranial hypertension, seizures and status epilepticus, neuromuscular disorders such as Guillain-Barré and myasthenia gravis, traumatic brain and spinal-cord injury including neurogenic and spinal shock, musculoskeletal trauma and compartment syndrome, and behavioural and psychosocial emergencies including delirium, agitation, substance withdrawal and suicidal ideation.

Multisystem is 16% of the adult CCRN. It covers sepsis, septic shock and SIRS, multiple organ dysfunction, the distinguishing features of shock states, acid-base imbalance, hypothermia and hyperthermia, submersion injury, toxic ingestion and inhalation, sleep disruption and sensory overload, end-of-life and palliative care in the ICU, healthcare-acquired infection, and rapid-response and emergency-response scenarios.

Cardiovascular is 13% of the adult CCRN. It covers acute coronary syndrome, aortic aneurysm and dissection, cardiac infection and inflammatory disease, cardiac surgery and trauma, cardiac tamponade, cardiogenic shock, cardiomyopathy, dysrhythmias, heart failure, hypertensive crisis, conduction defects such as prolonged QT and WPW, structural and valvular disease, and vascular interventions including stents and endarterectomy.

Respiratory is 12% of the adult CCRN. It covers acute pulmonary oedema and pulmonary embolus, ARDS, acute respiratory failure, pneumonia and chronic conditions such as COPD and asthma, mechanical-ventilation complications, pleural-space abnormalities including pneumothorax and effusion, pulmonary hypertension and haemorrhage, status asthmaticus, thoracic and airway trauma, and thoracic surgery.