Blumlein D and Griffiths (2022) Shock: aetiology, pathophysiology and management, British Journal Of Nursing, 31(8), pp. 422–428.

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Elearning for healthcare (no date) Critical care intravenous therapy. 

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National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2024) Sepsis: recognition, diagnosis and early management. NICE guideline NG51.

• Please check that guidance is applicable for your country. NICE guidance is officially England and Wales only.
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The UK Sepsis Trust: Clinical tools

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Critical Care Network National Nurse Leads (2015) National competency framework for registered nurses in adult critical care (Step competency framework), (no place): CC3N.

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Intensive Care Society and The Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine (2019) The transfer of the critically ill adult. London: ICS.

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The Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine (2026) Guidelines for the provision of intensive care services. Version 3. London: FICM.

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Royal College of Physicians (2017) National Early Warning Score (NEWS) 2: Standardising the assessment of acute-illness severity in the NHS. Updated report of a working party. London: RCP.

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• E-learning programme

We would like to thank the RCN Critical Care and Flight Nursing member community for their input into the development of this subject guide.

Bench S, Credland N and Hill C (eds.) (2025) Critical care manual of clinical nursing procedures. 2nd edn. Wiley-Blackwell

• Access through RCN Library

Freeman S, Steen C and Bleakley G (2022) Essentials of nursing critically ill adults. Los Angeles: SAGE.

• Access through RCN Library

Leach R M (2023) Critical care medicine at a glance. 4th edn. Hoboken: Wiley Blackwell. 

• Access through RCN Library

McGloin S and Skull A (2022) Principles of acute care nursing. SAGE Publications.

• Access through RCN Library

Migliozzi J (2021) ‘Shock’, in Peate I (ed.) Fundamentals of applied pathophysiology. 4th edn. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell. pp. 130-152.

• Access through RCN Library

Myers A and Samuels T (2023) Clinical cases in critical care. Hoboken: Wiley Blackwell. 

• Access through RCN Library

Parsons P and Wiener-Kronish J (eds.) (2018) Critical care secrets. 6th edn. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

• Access through RCN Library

Peate I and Hill B (eds.) (2023) Fundamentals of critical care: a textbook for nursing and healthcare students. John Wiley and Sons.

• Access through RCN Library

Sole M L, Klein D G, Moseley M J, Makic M B F and Morata L T (2021) Introduction to critical care nursing. 8th edn. St. Louis: Elsevier.

• Access through RCN Library

Tait D, Williams C, Barton D and James J (2022) Acute and critical care in adult nursing. 3rd edn. London: Learning Matters.

• Access through RCN Library

Urden L, Stacy K and Lough M (eds.) (2022) Critical care nursing: diagnosis and management. 9th ed. Maryland Heights: Elsevier.

• Access through RCN Library

Woodrow, P. and Hill, B. (2025) Intensive care nursing: a framework for practice. 5th edn. Routledge.

• Access through RCN Library

Use these links to see details of books on each topic.

• Critical care nursing
• Critical care units

Journals of interest for continence care. Use these links to see details of availability. 

• Critical care nursing
• Intensive care units

Journals of interest for continence care. Use these links to see details of availability.

• Critical Care
• Intensive and Critical Care Nursing
• Journal of Critical Care
• Nursing in Critical Care

Critical care reviews : newsletter, meeting presentations, studies, review articles, guidelines and more

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The bottom line: summaries and critiques of landmark papers on critical care

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