Registered Nurse - Virtual ICU

At Houston Methodist, the Registered Nurse (RN)-Virtual is responsible for providing professional nursing care with collaboration from the bedside nurse through two-way audio/visual technology and performing assessments of vital signs and monitoring data through specialized software. The Virtual ICU RN position is a licensed staff nurse, who as an advanced clinician, functions at the Proficient level according to Benner's model of clinical practice. The Virtual ICU RN position provides professional direct patient nursing care to a diverse patient population and is considered an expert in a specialty. Besides conducting nursing assessments, assisting with exams and treatment and maintenance of medical records, this position assists in coaching and mentoring department staff in areas of clinical and professional practice. Role modeling compassionate communication with physicians and the interprofessional health care team, the Virtual ICU RN position assumes leadership responsibilities with high level contributions at the bedside, unit, service line, and across the institution. Responsibilities for this position may include but are not limited to leading unit and shared governance activities, serving as charge nurse as needed, assessing unit needs related to practice and improvement opportunities, serving as a clinical resource for both unit and hospital staff and coordinating unit and hospital-wide education in partnership with management.

FLSA STATUS
Non-exempt

QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION

• Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing

EXPERIENCE

• Three years Critical Care Experience
• One year in specialty preferred

LICENSES AND CERTIFICATIONS
Required

• RN - Registered Nurse - Texas State Licensure - Texas Board of Nursing_PSV Compact Licensure – Must obtain permanent Texas license within 60 days (if establishing Texas residency) and
• ACLS - Advanced Cardiac Life Support or Instructor (AHA) - American Heart Association and
• BLS - Basic Life Support or Instructor (AHA) - American Heart Association and
• Magnet-ANCC Recognized Certification (HM) within 6 months

KNOWLEDGE AND ABILITIES

• Demonstrates the skills and competencies necessary to safely perform the assigned job, determined through on-going skills, competency assessments, and performance evaluations
• Sufficient proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing the English language necessary to perform the essential functions of this job, especially with regard to activities impacting patient or employee safety or security
• Ability to effectively communicate with patients, physicians, family members and co-workers in a manner consistent with a customer service focus and application of positive language principles
• Demonstrates expertise in operating the electronic medical record
• Working knowledge of Microsoft products including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook
• Acts as effective change agent
• Uses therapeutic communication to establish a relationship with patients, families and interprofessional team to collaborate on the plan of care
• Strong assessment, organizational and problem solving skill as evidenced by capacity to prioritize multiple tasks and role components
• Ability to function independently and exercise judgment in interactions with physicians, interprofessional care team and patients and their families
• Demonstrates proficient time management skills
• Uses critical thinking skills and clinical judgment to work autonomously as defined by the Nurse Practice Act
• Maintains level of professional contributions as defined in Clinical Career Path program guide

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

PEOPLE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Identifies staff development opportunities for professional growth of colleagues, provides coaching to meet identified goals. Acts as a model and coaches staff in effective verbal, non-verbal and written communication, which includes active listening and teaching. Provides oversight for student/new employee preceptorships.
• Collaborates to foster healthy relationships in the work environment such as mitigation of conflict. Advocates for a balanced workload, promotes positive behaviors, and peer-to-peer accountability.
• Improves nurse satisfaction by serving as a role model and mentor, facilitating teamwork with RNs, non-licensed and interprofessional staff, as evidenced by the annual RN-RN teamwork score and interprofessional relationship score. Improves department scores for turnover/retention on unit-based scorecard.

SERVICE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Leads the patient and family-centered care standards, as outlined in the Houston Methodist Professional Nursing Practice document. Mentors others regarding specialty populations. Audits plan of care.
• Develops, updates and communicates plan of care, including discharge, in partnership with the patient, family and interprofessional health care team, using the nursing process. Prioritizes care based on the patient’s needs, abilities and preferences. Advocates on patient/family’s behalf to identify and resolve clinical and ethical concerns. Develops appropriate resources and supports unit practices and guidelines.
• Develops and implements effective patient teaching strategies based on learning needs; uses appropriate resources, incorporating planning for care after discharge. Consistently evaluates the patient’s comprehension and adapts teaching methods accordingly.
• Drives department activities to improve department score for patient satisfaction on unit-based scorecard, through peer-to-peer accountability.

QUALITY/SAFETY ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Models the standards of care related to the nursing process, as outlined in the Houston Methodist Professional Nursing Practice document. Provides care as the staff nurse leader to complex patients and leads the inter professional health care team in implementing plan of care. Anticipates/prevents and recognize/resolves early declines in patient condition and emergent situations. Manages assignment of complex patients and other unit demands. Proactively recognizes, determines a plan of action, and responds to situations, such as Rapid Response/CERTs, and emergency codes.
• Models the standards related to regulatory requirements and professional practice as outlined in the Houston Methodist Professional Nursing Practice document. Role models highly developed assessment, clinical documentation, leadership and analytical skills; integrates and contributes to professional practice standards, policies, procedures, protocols and leads improvements in patient safety-related processes at unit or service line level. Contributes to development of service line and hospital standards and guidelines.
• Leads initiatives to improve quality and safety scores on the unit and hospital scorecards, through peer-to-peer accountability, reporting near misses and identifying solutions by collaborating with the inter professional team. Role models situational awareness, using teachable moments to improve safety. Assists with audits as needed.

FINANCE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Models independent time management effectively and prioritization of daily tasks, minimizing incidental overtime. Actively participates in the stewardship and efficient utilization of resources and needs including unit capital and operational budgets. Collaborates with interprofessional health care team to facilitate patient throughput efficiently to meet organizational goals.
• Implements department strategies to achieve financial target on unit-based scorecard and mentors others to do the same through timely documentation of care, decreasing length of stay, optimizing efficiency, minimizing incidental overtime, and other areas according to department specifications.

GROWTH/INNOVATION ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Leads and identifies opportunities for practice changes and performance improvement. Investigates and incorporates evidence-based practices which are presented to shared governance and leadership. Supports change initiatives and adapts to unexpected changes.
• Expands individual nursing knowledge and coaches staff to grow in knowledge, abilities, skills, and attitudes. Serves as the clinical resource. Develops and disseminates, as appropriate, informational/educational resources and programs designed to improve quality and professional practice.
• Fosters identification and implementation of innovative solutions to improve patient care or unit operations such as reduction of hospital readmissions or other department-specific measures by leading and/or participating in unit projects and shared governance activities.

SUPPLEMENTAL REQUIREMENTS
WORK ATTIRE

• Uniform: No
• Scrubs: Yes
• Business professional: No
• Other (department approved): No

ON-CALL*
*Note that employees may be required to be on-call during emergencies (ie. Disaster, Severe Weather Events, etc) regardless of selection below.

• On Call* No

TRAVEL**
**Travel specifications may vary by department**

• May require travel within the Houston Metropolitan area Yes
• May require travel outside Houston Metropolitan area No

QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION

• Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing

EXPERIENCE

• Three years Critical Care Experience
• One year in specialty preferred

LICENSES AND CERTIFICATIONS
Required

• RN - Registered Nurse - Texas State Licensure - Texas Board of Nursing_PSV Compact Licensure – Must obtain permanent Texas license within 60 days (if establishing Texas residency) and
• ACLS - Advanced Cardiac Life Support or Instructor (AHA) - American Heart Association and
• BLS - Basic Life Support or Instructor (AHA) - American Heart Association and
• Magnet-ANCC Recognized Certification (HM) within 6 months