AI exposure: Critical Care Nurses
Provide specialized nursing care for patients in critical or coronary care units.
Reading this score
computedAt 15.0% of weighted task load, Critical Care Nurses sits at the 23th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 61.4% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is verification cost. Across this occupation's 29 tasks it averages 2.63 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, checking the output costs more than producing it. Where an undetected error is expensive, dangerous or irreversible, the economics change. Someone has to verify the work, and verifying can cost as much as doing it. This is the friction most likely to fall as tools for checking improve.
The most exposed thing this job does is Document patients' medical histories and assessment findings, at 53.3%. The least is Assist physicians with procedures such as bronchoscopy, endoscopy, endotracheal intubation, or..., at 0.0%. A gap of 53.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within healthcare practitioner and technical occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 18.5% across the group's 89 roles, with 63 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 29 tasks, 5 are currently banded exposed, 7 assisted and 17 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 1.51 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.55 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.92 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 2.54 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.76 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 2.63 | 0-3 |
Task by task
29 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document patients' medical histories and assessment findings. | 53.3% | 46.7% | 0.0% | 4.54 | exposed |
| Document patients' treatment plans, interventions, outcomes, or plan revisions. | 53.3% | 46.7% | 0.0% | 4.11 | exposed |
| Evaluate patients' vital signs or laboratory data to determine emergency intervention needs. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 5.00 | exposed |
| Compile and analyze data obtained from monitoring or diagnostic tests. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 4.70 | exposed |
| Prioritize nursing care for assigned critically ill patients, based on assessment data or identified needs. | 30.0% | 45.0% | 25.0% | 4.73 | assisted |
| Identify patients' age-specific needs and alter care plans as necessary to meet those needs. | 30.0% | 45.0% | 25.0% | 3.78 | assisted |
| Participate in professional organizations and continuing education to improve practice knowledge and skills. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 3.71 | exposed |
| Participate in the development, review, or evaluation of nursing practice protocols. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 3.46 | assisted |
| Monitor patients' fluid intake and output to detect emerging problems, such as fluid and electrolyte imbalances. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | 4.79 | assisted |
| Assess patients' pain levels or sedation requirements. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | 4.63 | assisted |
| Collaborate with other health care professionals to develop and revise treatment plans, based on identified needs and assessment data. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | 4.56 | assisted |
| Plan, provide, or evaluate educational programs for nursing staff, interdisciplinary health care team members, or community members. | 11.2% | 26.2% | 62.5% | 3.32 | untouched |
| Identify malfunctioning equipment or devices. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.11 | untouched |
| Identify patients at risk of complications due to nutritional status. | 10.0% | 27.5% | 62.5% | 3.93 | untouched |
| Assess patients' psychosocial status and needs, including areas such as sleep patterns, anxiety, grief, anger, and support systems. | 10.0% | 40.0% | 50.0% | 3.89 | assisted |
| Coordinate patient care conferences. | 10.0% | 27.5% | 62.5% | 3.42 | untouched |
| Advocate for patients' and families' needs, or provide emotional support for patients and their families. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 4.37 | untouched |
| Conduct pulmonary assessments to identify abnormal respiratory patterns or breathing sounds that indicate problems. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.67 | untouched |
| Assess family adaptation levels and coping skills to determine whether intervention is needed. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.21 | untouched |
| Supervise and monitor unit nursing staff. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.12 | untouched |
| Ensure that equipment or devices are properly stored after use. | 4.2% | 8.3% | 87.5% | 3.17 | untouched |
| Perform approved therapeutic or diagnostic procedures, based upon patients' clinical status. | 2.5% | 10.0% | 87.5% | 4.15 | untouched |
| Monitor patients for changes in status and indications of conditions such as sepsis or shock and institute appropriate interventions. | 1.2% | 11.2% | 87.5% | 4.85 | untouched |
| Administer blood and blood products, monitoring patients for signs and symptoms related to transfusion reactions. | 1.2% | 11.2% | 87.5% | 4.39 | untouched |
| Provide post-mortem care. | 1.1% | 7.2% | 91.7% | 3.40 | untouched |
| Administer medications intravenously, by injection, orally, through gastric tubes, or by other methods. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.81 | untouched |
| Collect specimens for laboratory tests. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.48 | untouched |
| Set up and monitor medical equipment and devices such as cardiac monitors, mechanical ventilators and alarms, oxygen delivery devices, transducers, or pressure lines. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.44 | untouched |
| Assist physicians with procedures such as bronchoscopy, endoscopy, endotracheal intubation, or elective cardioversion. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.14 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.