Acute & Critical Care Nursing
Healthcare Headhunters recruits healthcare professionals for employers. No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
This is what we do all day: recruit healthcare professionals.
Hire acute and critical care nurses whose recent shift decisions match your patients, assignments, devices, and escalation process.
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
What does an open seat cost you every week?
An open role costs you more than the recruiting fee. Someone covers the work, waits for care, or stops a service. We ask what is falling behind and who is carrying it. Use your own figures to compare the cost of waiting with the cost of hiring.
The seat is costing you every week.
Overtime, diverted patients, a stretched team and a schedule held together by favors.
The posting brought the wrong people.
Applicants arrive, but the person who has done this exact work is employed and not looking.
You are the one chasing.
Screening calls, no-shows and follow-ups land on the desk of someone with a facility to run.
What does this hire really come down to?
ICU, PCU, step-down, ED critical care, and cardiac critical care roles need experienced RNs, but they do not need the same background. We help you separate broad hospital experience from the work your unit expects a nurse to perform during a difficult shift.
An active RN license begins the review. It does not show whether a nurse can take your patient mix. We ask what changed during a recent shift, which patients the nurse accepted, what help was available, and when the nurse called a provider, charge nurse, rapid response team, or specialist.
This nursing family covers distinct work. ICU nurses may manage ventilators, invasive monitoring, titratable infusions, and frequent reassessment. PCU and step-down nurses may manage larger assignments while watching telemetry, BiPAP, and selected drips. ED critical care nurses make early stabilization decisions as arrivals change. Your clinical leaders define the clinical bar. We screen for the work behind the title.
We arrange locum tenens, travel and contract coverage on request. Credentialing, licensing and malpractice coverage are confirmed per engagement before anyone starts.
What do we check before you see anyone?
Confirm an active RN license in the state where the nurse will practice, or a valid multistate privilege where applicable. We ask about expiration dates, compact status, relocation, and endorsement timing that could affect a planned start. Map ACLS, PALS, and other requested certificates to the opening.
- An adult ICU may ask for ACLS. A pediatric-focused opening may ask for or prefer PALS. We verify current status and ask how the nurse used those skills in recent clinical practice.
- Ask which titratable medications the nurse managed and how recently. Your screen may cover amiodarone, diltiazem, vasopressors, sedation, or medications named by your team. We ask whether the nurse titrated under a unit protocol, needed a second-RN check, or transferred those patients elsewhere.
- Review device exposure through actual work examples. We ask about BiPAP, ventilated patients, arterial lines, central lines, telemetry alarms, and deterioration at the bedside. Recognizing a device name differs from managing alarms, reassessment, charting, and escalation around it.
- Compare actual assignments rather than accepting a generic ratio answer. We ask about patient count, admissions, transfers, discharges, assistive staff, charge coverage, floating, and late-shift unstable assignments. This shows whether the nurse’s former workload resembles yours.
- Discuss EHR work at handoff and during clinical changes. We ask how the nurse documented titrations, reassessments, orders, and unfinished tasks before shift end. Your organization completes credentialing and clinical assessment.
Where do we find them, and why would they move?
We speak with RNs from regional hospitals, community hospitals, academic medical centers, specialty hospitals, and emergency departments. Some are actively looking. Others may consider a change because of a commute, schedule, patient mix, leadership change, floating pattern, or limited specialty exposure.
We ask why the person is open to moving. We do not treat initial interest as a commitment to accept an offer.
Which mistakes stall the search?
A common mistake is treating ICU, PCU, and step-down experience as interchangeable without asking about recent drips, devices, assignments, and escalation decisions. Another is assuming an active ACLS or PALS card proves recent experience with your emergency response process, medication practices, or patient population.
Waiting until the final interview to discuss floating, shift pattern, weekend rotation, call expectations, and available help on difficult assignments.
How would we run the search for this opening?
Tell us the license, patient population, shift, assignment pattern, equipment, medication exposure, and certificates you want reviewed. We screen work history and ask unit-specific questions before presentation. Cardiac critical care nurses may need recent rhythm-management experience with amiodarone, diltiazem, and unit-specific devices.
Set the unit screen
Separate day-one essentials from skills your team can teach after hire.
Review clinical evidence
You review the relevant answers, interview the nurse, and complete your credentialing and clinical assessment.
Choose the engagement
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement. We arrange locum tenens, travel and contract coverage on request.
Every title in Acute & Critical Care Nursing
- Medical-Surgical Nurse (Med-Surg RN)
- Telemetry Nurse (Tele RN, Med-Surg/Tele RN)
- Progressive Care Nurse (PCU, Step-Down, Intermediate Care RN)
- ICU Nurse (Adult Critical Care RN, MICU RN)
- CVICU Nurse (Cardiovascular ICU, Open Heart Recovery RN)
- Neuro ICU Nurse (Neuro Critical Care RN)
- Surgical / Trauma ICU Nurse (SICU, TICU RN)
- Emergency Room Nurse (ER Nurse, ED RN)
- Trauma Nurse (Trauma Bay RN)
- Float Pool Nurse (Resource RN, Flex Team RN)
- Charge Nurse (Relief Charge RN)
- Critical Care Transport / Flight Nurse
- Oncology Nurse (Inpatient Hem/Onc, BMT RN)
- Transplant Nurse
- Acute Inpatient Rehab Nurse
- Psychiatric Nurse (Behavioral Health RN, Inpatient Psych RN)
- Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL)
What if our EHR differs from the nurse’s prior hospital?
A different EHR does not automatically rule out a candidate. We ask how the nurse documented medication changes, reassessments, orders, and handoffs, allowing you to judge the training the nurse may need on your system. A nurse may seek more defined assignments, a different day, night, weekend, or holiday pattern, or closer alignment with a specialty population.
Can you recruit for ICU, PCU, step-down, and ED critical care openings at once?
Yes, but each opening needs its own screen. We distinguish patient population, assignments, devices, drips, and requested certificates so nurses are not treated as interchangeable.
How do you assess titratable drip experience?
We ask which medications the nurse managed, how recently, and under what unit practices. We also ask about titration, reassessment, escalation, and documentation. Your clinical leaders decide whether that background meets your standards.
How do you handle an out-of-state RN license?
We verify license status and discuss compact privilege, endorsement, relocation, and timing early. Your organization controls credentialing and final start approval, so known timing issues are raised before final decisions.
What do we pay if we do not hire a presented nurse?
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire a candidate presented through our process. The written agreement covers fee and replacement terms for a standard search.
What should you send us about this role?
Send us the role, where the person will work and what needs to change with this hire. We will ask about the work, not just the title. Share any license or schedule limits that could rule someone out before we begin the search.
Tell Healthcare Headhunters what your nurses manage on a difficult shift, not only the requisition title. We will build the screen around that work and introduce permanent candidates for your review.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
What do you get at each step of the search?
Our process for every search: calibrate the seat with you, map the market, research the real people, reach out to each one personally, qualify them in live conversation, then hand you a short list with a written brief on each person and support through the offer.
Search Calibration
You get an agreed brief: the work, reporting line, credentials, schedule, and offer you can make.
Market Mapping
You get a search aimed at relevant backgrounds, including people working now who have not applied.
Professional Contact Intelligence
We check appropriate ways to reach the people identified for your search. You do not have to chase them yourself.
Persistent Personalized Outreach
We explain your actual job and follow up with people who may consider a conversation.
Live Candidate Qualification
You see people we have spoken with about the work, interest, and practical fit, not an unread resume pile.
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You get a written brief and support through interviews and offer discussions. You make the hiring decision.
How long will it take to see a short list?
That depends on the job, schedule, available people, and what your employer can offer. We discuss those constraints before outreach and update you as candidates respond. We do not promise a fixed shortlist date. We check the job brief before arranging interviews. Tell us which parts of the role you can change.
What if a candidate receives a counteroffer?
We ask why the person wants to move and discuss competing decisions before an offer. A counteroffer can still change their choice. Keep the duties and offer clear rather than assuming more money settles every concern. Tell us early if parts of your offer cannot change, so the candidate hears it from us first.
What are the replacement terms?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement. Ask us to walk through those terms before you sign, so you know how a replacement would work for your opening and who would start it.
What do we not do in a standard permanent search?
We do not bill standard contingency search by the hour or simply repost your job. Temporary coverage is a separate arrangement. Any retainer or different engagement must be agreed, not assumed. Tell us early if you need coverage while the permanent search runs.