Staff Nurse

While transplant recipients often meet their surgeons and bedside nurses, few realize that life-saving transplant surgery begins with a specialized team of nurses working behind the scenes to coordinate the complex logistics that make transplantation possible!

The University Health Transplant Institute (UHTI) is seeking an experienced Registered Nurse to join our highly specialized Organ Placement team-an elite group of transplant professionals who coordinate the complex process of matching life-saving donor organs with transplant recipients across our nationally recognized transplant programs.

This is not a traditional bedside nursing position.

As an Organ Placement Nurse, you will serve at the center of one of the most time-sensitive and impactful processes in healthcare. Working closely with transplant surgeons, physicians, procurement, operating room teams, and multidisciplinary partners, you will help ensure that every donor organ opportunity is evaluated, coordinated, and advanced efficiently from donor offer through transplantation.

For nurses who thrive in high-stakes environments, enjoy critical thinking, and want to play a direct role in saving lives through transplantation, this position offers a rare and rewarding opportunity.

About the University Health Transplant Institute (UHTI)

The University Health Transplant Institute is one of the nation's leading transplant centers and home to the #1 performing liver transplant program in the United States, recognized by Interlink for three consecutive years.

For more than three decades, UHTI has served patients across South Texas and beyond through comprehensive liver, kidney, lung, living donor and pediatric kidney and liver transplant programs.

Program Highlights
• More than 2,500 liver transplants performed since 1992
• More than 1,700 kidney transplants performed, building upon a transplant legacy dating back to 1970
• The nation's #1 liver program in the United States
• More than 400 organ transplants performed annually
• The only pediatric living liver transplant center in Southwest Texas
• Dedicated multidisciplinary transplant teams including surgeons, hepatologists, nephrologists, pharmacists, nurse coordinators, social workers, and case managers
• Nationally recognized outcomes and patient survival rates that exceed national benchmarks

What You'll Do

As an Organ Placement Nurse, you will serve as a critical operational and clinical resource responsible for coordinating and collaborating on recipient organ offers to support successful transplantation.

Key responsibilities include:
• Providing accurate, concise, and clinically sound reports to on-call providers to support timely organ acceptance decisions
• Coordinating with organ procurement, transplant surgeons, operating room staff, laboratory teams, and ancillary departments throughout the organ placement process
• Managing multiple priorities simultaneously while ensuring regulatory compliance and operational efficiency
• Supporting seamless coordination from donor offer through operating room readiness
• Utilizing advanced critical thinking and clinical judgment to facilitate decision-making in rapidly evolving situations
• Serving as an autonomous nursing professional in a role that requires adaptability, accountability, and exceptional attention to detail
• Assisting with coverage needs across the transplant coordination team to ensure uninterrupted patient care and transplant operations

Schedule & Work Environment

This position offers a unique mid-shift schedule designed to support transplant operations during peak organ placement activity. Able to work most weekends preferred.


Schedule:

Our Organ Placement team is small, highly collaborative, and deeply committed to one another's success. Team members are trusted professionals who work independently while maintaining close communication and support. Reliability, accountability, and professionalism are essential in this highly specialized environment.

Qualifications

Required:
• Current Registered Nurse (RN) license in good standing
• Strong clinical assessment and critical thinking skills
• Excellent communication and interdisciplinary collaboration abilities
• Ability to perform effectively under pressure and manage competing priorities
• Commitment to teamwork, accountability, and professional excellence

Preferred:
• Three or more years of nursing experience
• Previous transplant nursing experience
• Experience in critical care, organ procurement, transplant coordination, or other high-acuity clinical environments
• Strong understanding of transplant processes and donor organ allocation principles

Why Join University Health Transplant Institute?

Be Part of Something Bigger

Every organ offer represents a potential second chance at life.

As an Organ Placement Coordinator, your expertise, judgment, and coordination directly contribute to connecting donor gifts with patients awaiting transplantation. Few nursing roles offer this level of impact on such a large scale.

Practice at a Nationally Recognized Transplant Center

Join one of the country's most respected transplant programs, including the #1 liver transplant program in the United States and one of the nation's leading living donor transplant centers.

Work Alongside Exceptional Teams

Collaborate daily with transplant surgeons, physicians, coordinators, procurement, and multidisciplinary specialists dedicated to delivering life-saving care.