Clinical Nurse Leader - Bedside Care & Outcomes (CMC Tower Expansion)

Job Description

The Clinical Nurse Leader – Bedside Care & Outcomes is a master’s prepared registered nurse and advanced nursing generalist who functions as a point-of-care clinical leader for a defined patient cohort within an inpatient, emergency, procedural, or other clinical microsystem. The role is embedded in the patient care environment and supports safe, evidence-based, patient-centered care through focused assessments, real-time clinical surveillance, bedside intervention, interdisciplinary care coordination, patient/family education, and coaching of nursing teammates during care delivery. The CNL uses patient-level and unit-level data to identify risk, anticipate care needs, reduce care fragmentation, escalate concerns, and improve outcomes such as hospital-acquired conditions, length of stay, readmissions, discharge readiness, patient experience. and clinical documentation reliability.

Major Responsibilities

Provides bedside clinical leadership for a defined patient cohort:

Maintains situational awareness of assigned patients through rounding, focused assessment, chart review, patient/family interaction, and communication with bedside nurses and other care team members. Provides direct or indirect patient care support within RN scope when needs arise to maintain patient safety and care progression.

Performs real-time clinical surveillance and escalation:

Identifies early changes in patient condition, safety risks, care delays, diagnostic or treatment gaps, noncompliance with evidence-based practice and policy standards, and clinical deterioration concerns. Escalates to providers or leaders as appropriate and assists with timely interventions, follow-up, and documentation of patient status and plan of care.

Coordinates interdisciplinary care at the point of care:

Leads or actively participates in multidisciplinary rounds, hallway huddles, ADOD/throughput discussions, bedside touchpoints, the implementation of evidence-based practice, and discharge planning. Aligns physicians, nurses, HCTs/nursing assistants, pharmacists, therapists, case management, social work, and other stakeholders around patient-specific goals and barriers.

Implements evidence-based clinical protocols and standards:

Supports bedside implementation and monitoring of protocols and standards such as mobility and turn programs, nursing clinical care practices, nurse-sensitive indicator practices to include but not limited to fall prevention, HAPI prevention, CAUTI/CLABSI prevention, CHG bathing, ERAS pathways, delirium risk mitigation, telemetry stewardship, sepsis and chronic disease management,

education, post-operative recovery expectations, and other population-specific clinical priorities.

Uses clinical data to improve patient outcomes:

Reviews dashboards, reports, audits, nurse-sensitive indicator outcomes, patient safety events, documentation trends, and patient-care outcomes. Translates findings into real-time feedback, countermeasures, education, and sustainable care process improvements at the unit or service-line level.

Provides just-in-time coaching, mentoring, and clinical education:

Coaches RNs, HCTs/nursing assistants, and other teammates at the bedside to reinforce critical thinking, clinical standards, evidence-based care, documentation expectations, escalation criteria, patient education, and safety practices. Supports onboarding, competency validation, and professional development activities connected to clinical practice.

Supports patient and family engagement:

Clarifies care plans, reinforces education using health-literate and teach-back approaches, supports MyChart or other patient engagement tools, addresses barriers to care progression, and coordinates services such as palliative care, home health, Hospital at Home, or other transition resources when clinically appropriate.

Promotes scalable clinical practice improvement:

Participates in professional governance, unit-based councils, quality improvement work, nursing excellence, the acquisition of Magnet-related evidence, and spread of effective clinical workflows across adopting departments or regions. Creates or adapts tools, checklists, huddle boards, audit processes, and education resources to support reliable bedside practice.

Minimum Job Requirements

Education

Master’s degree in Nursing required. Graduation from an accredited

Clinical Nurse Leader program as required to sit for the CNL certification exam

for enterprise consistency.

Certification / Registration / License

Current RN license in the state of practice required. Basic Life Support required per policy. Clinical Nurse Leader certification through the Commission on Nurse Certification/AACN required or obtained within an approved timeframe if the role is posted as a CNL position.

Additional specialty certification may be required by department or patient population.

Experience

Clinical registered nursing experience in the patient population or care setting served.

Demonstrated experience coordinating care for complex patients, leading clinical quality/safety work, using electronic health record data, and coaching nursing teammates in practice is required.

Exact years of experience to be validated by Nursing Operations for enterprise posting consistency.

Knowledge / Skills / Abilities

Advanced clinical assessment and critical-thinking skills.

Ability to identify patient deterioration and escalate concerns.

Ability to coordinate care across interprofessional teams

Knowledge of evidence-based nursing practice, quality improvement, patient safety, nurse-sensitive indicators, dashboards/audits, and clinical documentation standards

Effective coaching, facilitation, patient/family education, and communication skills

Ability to work independently in a fast-paced clinical setting while collaborating with bedside teammates and leaders.

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions

Works in a fast-paced clinical environment with frequent walking, standing, sitting, reaching, stooping, bending, pushing, pulling, and lifting.

Must be able to respond quickly to changes in patient or unit conditions.

Must be able to lift and support weight consistent with patient care, medical equipment, and supplies requirements, including up to 35 pounds or as defined by departmental standards.

Requires intact hearing, vision, smell, finger dexterity, critical thinking, concentration, and ability to communicate effectively in English.

Additional department-specific physical requirements may be identified by the nurse leader based on patient population and care setting.

Preferred Job Requirements

Preferred Education

Doctor of Nursing Practice, additional graduate nursing coursework, or formal quality/safety education preferred.

Preferred Experience

Experience as a CNL, clinical nurse educator, clinical nurse specialist partner, charge nurse, quality/safety champion, professional governance leader, or unit-based clinical improvement lead preferred.

Preferred Certification / Registration / License

CNL certification, specialty nursing certification relevant to the clinical population served, Lean/quality improvement training, or other patient-safety credentials preferred.

Preferred Knowledge / Skills / Abilities

Experience with clinical dashboards, RedCap or similar audit tools, EMR reporting, ERAS or other clinical pathways, HAPI/falls/CAUTI/CLABSI prevention, patient throughput, Hospital at Home referral processes, patient engagement tools, and clinical spread/adoption work preferred.

This job description indicates the general nature and level of work expected of the incumbent. It is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities required of the incumbent. Incumbent may be required to perform other related duties.