Critical Care Nursing CCRN vs ICU Advantage Rapid Reference
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Critical Care Nursing CCRN
This app provides comprehensive guidance for critical care nursing, covering acute conditions, specialized areas, and essential nursing skills. It includes expert advice, visual aids, and practice questions to prepare for certification exams.
- Systems-based review of acute care conditions
- Guidance on multisystem disorders
- Expert nursing skills instruction
- Visual aids and charts
- Practice exams and quizzes
- SmartSearch technology
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"Try before you buy" - Download the FREE App, which includes sample content. An in-App purchase is required to unlock all content. Feeling unsure about your critical care nursing skills? Time to gain some confident know-how, with the freshly updated latest edition of Critical Care Nursing Made Incredibly Easy! Clear, concise direction on treating numerous acute and life-threatening issues. Absorb current best practices on critical care basics and specialized areas such as advanced life support measures, multisystem trauma, and treating specialized needs. This is ideal guidance for students, nurses new to clinical care, and those preparing for the Critical Care (CCRN) certification exam. * Expansive, systems-based review of acute care conditions for all body systems * Guidance on treating multisystem disorders – burns, hyperthermia, hypothermia, hypovolemic shock, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), and more * Expert guidance on nursing skills – blood and fluid replacement, rapid assessment and interventions, emergency measures, fluid replacement/resuscitation, drug therapy, pressure ulcer management, moderate sedation, CPR and emergency cardiac care, and more * Numerous images and charts demonstrate clinical use of IV fluids, interpreting serum electrolyte test results, drug therapy for multisystem disorders, and more * Step-by-step direction on performing blood transfusions with a guide to transfusion reactions * Top-level instruction in areas including oncology, acute care surgery, drug overdose and poisoning, palliative care and pain management, nutrition, prevention and screening, professional roles and ethics, test-taking strategies * Chapter features include: * Just the facts – a quick summary of content at the start of each chapter * Advice from experts – tips and tricks and key troubleshooting techniques * Take charge! – potentially lethal situations and steps to take when they occur * Handle with care – identifies concerns and actions related to elderly, pediatric, and bariatric patients * Weighing the evidence – highlights research that guides practice * Memory joggers – memory aids to help you grasp and remember difficult concepts * Certification tips – draw out the most important concepts from each chapter in relation to the CCRN exam * Quick quiz – end-of-chapter multiple choice questions, with answers and rationales * Practice makes perfect – extensive end-of-book practice exam to test knowledge in preparation for NCLEX and certification No internet connection is required to access the content after the initial download. Find information quickly using powerful SmartSearch technology. Search part of the term for those hard-to-spell medical terms. Content licensed from printed ISBN 10: 1975144309 ISBN 13: 9781975144302 SUBSCRIPTION : Please choose an auto-renewable subscription plan to receive content access & continuous updates. Your subscription automatically renews as per your plan, so you always have the latest content. Yearly auto-renewing payments-$44.99 Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Subscription may be managed by the user & auto-renewal can be disabled at any time by going to your device “Settings” and tapping “iTunes & App Store”. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription, where applicable. If you have any questions or comments, email us any time: customersupport@skyscape.com or call 508-299-30000 Privacy Policy-https://www.skyscape.com/terms-of-service/privacypolicy.aspx Terms and Conditions-https://www.skyscape.com/terms-of-service/licenseagreement.aspx Editor(s): David W. Woodruff, MSN, RN-BC, CNS, CNE, FNAP Publisher: Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
ICU Advantage Rapid Reference
This clinical reference tool helps critical care professionals understand complex patient conditions. It provides organ-system-based information, ventilator settings, drug references, calculators, and interactive protocols. Designed for nurses, therapists, and providers, it focuses on deep understanding rather than just quick lookups.
- Organ-system-based clinical reference
- Ventilator settings and troubleshooting
- Drug references with dosing and pearls
- Calculators and scoring systems
- Interactive emergency protocols
- Offline access to content
- Search functionality
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ICU Advantage Rapid Reference is the critical care reference built for ICU nurses, respiratory therapists, and every clinician caring for critically ill patients. Built to help you understand the complexity of critical care, not just looking things up and forgetting them, while also giving you an extensive collection of tools right at your fingertips when you need them. From the team behind the ICU Advantage YouTube channel, trusted by more than 980,000 nurses and critical care professionals worldwide. FOR THE WHOLE CRITICAL CARE TEAM ICU nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, residents, fellows, attendings, advanced practice providers, and anyone else caring for patients in the ICU. Whether you are a new ICU nurse or have been running codes for twenty years, Rapid Reference meets you where you are, gives you the deep clinical understanding you want and the tools you actually need, and helps you to keep learning and growing wherever you are. WHAT'S INSIDE • Organ-system-based critical care reference across cardiology, pulmonology, neurology, renal, GI, endocrine, and more • Ventilator modes, settings, and troubleshooting for mechanical ventilation • Hemodynamics, shock, sepsis, MCS support, trauma, burns, and even OB critical care • Labs, ABGs, and acid-base walkthroughs • Equipment, procedures, and point-of-care tests • Drug references with indications, common dosing, titratable drips, medication deep dives, and clinical pearls • Medical calculators that get you values fast, with full explanations of what they measure • Easy-to-use scoring systems, from GCS to SOFA and so much more: select criteria, get scores fast • Interactive emergency and resuscitation protocols, from ACLS algorithms to airway emergencies to MTP and more: zoom through visually or follow step by step • Quick Lookup for lab values, abbreviations, and terminology • Search built for the way critical care nurses and clinicians think • All available offline once the content is synced! • So much more! And even more yet to come still! BUILT TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND, NOT JUST LOOK UP Every topic is written to actually teach, not just summarize. Same philosophy as the ICU Advantage YouTube channel: take something genuinely complex, break it down into pieces that make sense, and leave you knowing the "why," not just the "what." When you need a quick review or refresher, the Rapid Reference for each content area surfaces the important, high-value information for quick access, with links to dive deeper into the parts you need. DESIGNED FOR CLINICIANS Clean, readable, and beautifully rendered. This doesn't just feel like reading a textbook on your phone. Elegantly designed to not just look great, but to easily navigate the huge collection of resources. And it stays readable in dark mode or light mode, on iPhone and iPad. Works fully offline, so it's there when the network is not. Bookmarks and favorites for the topics you come back to. No ads, no social feed, no distractions. Just the information you need, organized for quick access and the way you think. HONEST ABOUT WHAT THIS IS Rapid Reference is a reference and education tool designed for health care professionals working in critical care in the ICU. It is not medical advice, not a diagnostic device, and not a replacement for your institution's policies, procedures, the laws and regulations of your licensing governing body, or the orders of a qualified prescribing provider. Always defer to your local protocols and clinical judgment. TRY IT FREE Every new account gets a 7-day free trial with full access. After that, $15/month or $129/year. Cancel anytime. Built with care by critical care clinicians and the ICU Advantage team. Questions, feedback, or something we can make better? We read every message: contact@icuadvantage.com Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: ICU Advantage Rapid Reference at none against Critical Care Nursing CCRN's shown. ICU Advantage Rapid Reference also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 7 months) and ratings volume (158 vs 3). Critical Care Nursing CCRN's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Critical Care Nursing CCRN sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $44.99 per year and ICU Advantage Rapid Reference sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $15.00 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Critical Care Nursing CCRN against 4.9 for ICU Advantage Rapid Reference. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ICU Advantage Rapid Reference has 158 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Critical Care Nursing CCRN ships an update every 7 months, ICU Advantage Rapid Reference fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Critical Care Nursing CCRN | ICU Advantage Rapid Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | 4.9 (158 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 158 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #106 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 47 MB | 92 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Skyscape Medpresso Inc | ICU Advantage LLC |
Customer experience
Critical Care Nursing CCRN
ICU Advantage Rapid Reference
In-app purchases
Critical Care Nursing CCRN
- CritiCare Nursing Made Easy 1Y$44.991 Year
ICU Advantage Rapid Reference
- Rapid Reference Monthly7 Days trial$15.001 Month
- Rapid Reference Annual7 Days trial$129.001 Year
Questions
Is Critical Care Nursing CCRN free?
Is ICU Advantage Rapid Reference free?
Which has better reviews, Critical Care Nursing CCRN or ICU Advantage Rapid Reference?
Do Critical Care Nursing CCRN or ICU Advantage Rapid Reference have ads?
Which is updated more often, Critical Care Nursing CCRN or ICU Advantage Rapid Reference?
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