Travel CVPICU Nurse Jobs

Take a look at Vivian's Travel CVPICU Nurse Career Guide for more information, including required education, responsibilities, pros and cons and more.

Cardiovascular pediatric intensive care unit nurses, also known as pediatric cardiac nurses, are registered nurses who specialize in caring for children with congenital and acquired heart defects or cardiac diseases. Pediatric patients can range from infants to young adults aged 18 or older, so CVPICU nurses administer appropriate nursing care based on the age, size, and developmental level of the patient to achieve optimal outcomes. CVPICU nurses play a critical role in the lives of children and their families with complex and challenging responsibilities that can make this career path intense yet rewarding.

CVPICU nurses implement age-appropriate pediatric patient care to facilitate health and healing in young patients with heart conditions or respiratory distress. They may care for preoperative and postoperative patients and perform advanced diagnostic or therapeutic procedures as part of the pediatric cardiology team. CVPICU nurses monitor patients’ growth and nutrition and educate young patients and their families on diagnoses, procedures, medications, and well-childcare. Specific responsibilities may include:

CVPICU nurses typically work at major hospitals, including community hospitals, large medical centers, and teaching hospitals. In a hospital setting, they may work in a CVPICU or a general PICU but concentrate on treating child patients with heart problems. Hospitals without a CVPICU or PICU may still have specialized departments that care for infants, children, and adolescents that hire CVPICU nurses. It’s also common for them to work at children’s hospitals and heart hospitals with a pediatric wing.

Good CVPICU nurses are extremely patient and use kid-friendly approaches to put their young patients at ease during potentially painful and/or scary procedures and treatments. They’re detail-oriented and critical thinkers, and they remain hypervigilant to the slightest change in their patients’ conditions. Successful CVPICU nurses thrive in fast-paced environments and balance compassion and empathy with emotional fortitude and superior coping skills to keep their own emotions in check and avoid burnout. Because the CVPICU may also handle overflow PICU patients, CVPICU nurses have well-rounded pediatric nursing skills to effectively treat any type of pediatric patient. Excellent communication and other interpersonal skills, problem-solving, compassion, and the ability to build rapport with young patients and their families are other highly desirable traits of good CVPICU nurses.

A career as a travel CVPICU nurse requires becoming a registered nurse by graduating from an accredited school of professional nursing. Because this is a specialized field, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing is preferred. Graduates must pass the NCLEX-RN, and complete all state licensing requirements to become an RN. CVPICU nurses must also earn Basic Life Support, Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support, and Pediatric Advanced Life Support certifications. Although not required, CVPICU nurses may choose to pursue Critical Care Registered Nurse–Pediatrics certification from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and/or Certified Pediatric Emergency Nurse credentialing from the Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing. 

CVPICU nurses may hold Basic Life Support (BLS), Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) or Certification in Acute/Critical Care Nursing - Pediatric (CCRN-Pediatric), among others.