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Nurse.ICU

The critical resource for nurses.

Practical, no-fluff guides, free practice questions, and bedside tools — sourced, nurse-reviewed, and grounded in real bedside practice.

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Bedside tool

ABG Interpreter

pH, PaCO₂, HCO₃⁻ → the acid-base call with compensation — plus anion gap, albumin correction, and delta ratio when you add electrolytes.

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Practice for the exam you're taking

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Free practice

NCLEX

Short sets that explain every option, not just the right one.
Certification prep

SCRN®

Stroke certification on the ABNN blueprint, current with the 2026 guideline.
Certification prep

CCRN®

Critical care on the AACN blueprint: hemodynamics, vents, drips.
Certification prep

CMSRN®

Med-surg on the MSNCB blueprint, organized by body system.

Guides & explainers

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A flat digital floor scale and a cloth measuring tape on a plain pale surface, seen from directly overhead
Outpatient

BMI vs BSA: Two Numbers That Aren't Interchangeable

One is a screening ratio, the other is a dosing surface. They're calculated from the same two measurements and used for completely different things — and the one that matters for chemotherapy is the one people know least about.
An older patient propped up in a hospital bed in the middle of the night, wide awake and staring at nothing, a completely untouched meal tray across their lap, the room dark except for one dim overbed light
Geriatrics

Delirium, Dementia, or Depression: Telling the Three Apart

They present similarly in an older adult and get confused constantly — but only one is a medical emergency. Onset and attention are the two features that separate them, and the quiet version of delirium is the one that gets missed.
A nurse in scrubs standing at a bedside at night looking up sharply at a telemetry monitor above the bed, its screen dark with bright traces running across it including a cardiac rhythm line, the patient below lying with a nasal oxygen cannula and grimacing slightly, the room lit by the glow of the screen
Med-Surg

Early Warning Scores: Catching Deterioration Before the Code

MEWS and its successors turn five ordinary vital signs into a number that flags a patient sliding downhill hours before the arrest. How the score is built, why the respiratory rate carries so much of it, and what to do when the number climbs.
A packed emergency department waiting room seen from the back of the room, every armchair taken, people waiting with their heads down
Emergency

ESI Triage: How the Five Levels Actually Get Assigned

The Emergency Severity Index isn't a severity scale in the way the name suggests. Levels 1 and 2 are about danger; levels 3 to 5 are about resources. Understanding that split is what makes triage decisions fast and defensible.

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Wellness

Off the clock

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A person lying awake on their side in a dark bedroom in the middle of the night, eyes open, the room lit only by the faint glow of a phone face-down on the bedside table

Melatonin for Shift Workers: Dose, Timing, and What It Won't Fix

Melatonin is the supplement nurses ask about most, and almost everyone takes too much of it at the wrong time. It's a clock signal, not a sedative — which changes both the dose and the hour.
A flat illustration of both hands side by side seen from the back, filling the frame, with a network of fine hairline cracks across the knuckles and fingers in a slightly darker tone than the skin

Why Your Hands Crack Every Winter — and What Actually Fixes It

Hand dermatitis is close to an occupational hazard in nursing, and most of the advice about it is wrong in one specific way: it blames the alcohol gel. Here's what the evidence says, and the routine that works on a real shift.
A nurse in scrubs sitting alone on a bench outside a building holding a takeaway cup, eyes closed, face tilted up toward the light

The Break You Didn't Take: Why It Matters More Than You Think

Missed breaks are treated as a personality trait in nursing — a sign you're busy, or good. The evidence says they're a patient safety issue, and there's a specific reason the twenty-minute one is different from the ten.
A woman in gym clothes standing upright holding a loaded barbell at her hips at the top of a deadlift, in a plain gym

Training Around Shift Work, on a Body That Already Stood for Twelve Hours

Every training programme assumes you slept, ate on schedule, and haven't been on your feet since 0645. Here's how to build one that survives nights, and why steps at work don't count as the cardio you think they do.