The Arts Unique to Critical Care Nursing: Hard to Measure But Breathtakingly Manifest in a Pandemic

: This commentary begins as a question and makes a call for action. The question is: "Are ICU (intensive care unit) patients' outcomes related to the degree to which the patients' nurses practice the art of nursing unique to critical care?" When nurses address patients' basic human needs as opposed to tending solely to tasks, it likely affects the patients' vital signs, need for analgesia or sedation, adverse effects of stress, and short- and long-term outcomes. These factors are often collected in studies of the critically ill. The level of practice reflecting the art of critical care nursing can be an unrecognized confounding variable influencing results. The call for action is "create a tool to measure and study the effect of the art of nursing unique to the ICU on patient outcomes." The current COVID crisis has created tremendous visibility and awareness illuminating the role of the nurses and other health care providers. It is quite fitting, as this is also the year of the nurse and the midwife, that we celebrate and articulate much of what is unique to the art of our practice.