Registered Nurse, Pulmonary, Per Diem

Staff Nurse (Pulmonary - Per Diem)

Boston Medical Center (BMC) is more than a hospital. It´s a network of support and care that touches the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in need each year. It is the largest and busiest provider of trauma and emergency services in New England. Emphasizing community-based care, BMC is committed to providing consistently excellent and accessible health services to all—and is the largest safety-net hospital in New England. The hospital is also the primary teaching affiliate of the nationally ranked Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and a founding partner of Boston HealthNet – an integrated health care delivery systems that includes many community health centers. Join BMC today and help us achieve our Vision 2030 which is a long-term goal to make Boston the healthiest urban population in the world.

Position: Registered Nurse

Department: Pulmonary

Schedule: Per Diem

Essential Responsibilities / Duties:

Standards of Care

Consistently and effectively utilizes all steps of the nursing process in the provision of timely, safe, efficient and appropriate patient/centered care.

• Assesses the patient and family in a systematic and ongoing manner for both overt and covert signs and symptoms in accordance with the standards of clinical nursing practice.
• Collects pertinent data using appropriate assessment techniques.
• Prioritizes data according to the patient's immediate condition or needs.
• Involves the patient, family/significant others and appropriate health care providers in the collection of data when appropriate.
• Consistently uses clear, concise and effective written/oral communication and complies with departmental policies when sharing/documenting relevant patient care data.
• Identifies emergency/crisis situations, communicates such in a timely manner to appropriate health care team members, and responds appropriately when needed.

Analyzes the assessment data to determine appropriate nursing diagnoses.

• Demonstrates use of critical thinking skills, derives and documents appropriate diagnoses from patient and family assessment data.

Identifies expected outcomes individualized to the patient.

• Derives and documents realistic, appropriate clinical and educational patient-centered outcomes consistent with patient's diagnoses, capabilities and expectations in accordance to the standards of clinical nursing practice.
• Develops outcomes as measurable goals which include a time estimate for attainment and provides direction for continuity of care.
• Mutually formulates outcomes with the patient, significant others and health care team when appropriate.

Develops a plan of care that prescribes interventions to attain expected outcomes. Develops and documents an individualized plan of care that reflects the patient's condition, prioritizes his/her needs, and provides for continuity of care.

• Develops the plan with the client, significant others and appropriate health care providers.
• Develops a plan reflective of current nursing practice standards, policies, procedures, protocols and guidelines.
• Plan reflects effective use of available resources and appropriate internal/external referrals in order to provide comprehensive care to patients and families.

Implements interventions identified in the nursing and medical plan of care.

• Prioritizes patient care interventions based on fluctuating patient and unit needs.
• Demonstrates the knowledge and skills necessary to provide care appropriate to the age groups of patients regularly served. Consults appropriate resources when patients outside regularly served age populations are present.
• Effectively delegates appropriate patient care activities to co-workers with appropriate knowledge and skill level and ensures that co-workers have completed the delegated tasks in a timely manner.
• Provides for a safe, clean unit environment through use of appropriate risk management practices, e.g. labeling and removing broken/expired equipment/materials from service.
• Demonstrates safe technical competence based on patient needs, including but not limited to direct care skills, e.g., phlebotomy, IV insertion, etc., informatics, and equipment monitoring/utilization.
• Implements patient care interventions/treatments and administers medications in accordance with established practice standards, policies, and protocols.
• Educates patient and family regarding current illness, procedures, treatments, plan of care as well as health maintenance, promotion, and illness/injury prevention.
• In emergency/crisis situations, demonstrates effective decision making in accordance with standards of clinical nursing practice, re-prioritizes patient care needs, initiates appropriate response actions, and directs other team members to ensure a complete and coordinated response.
• Documents interventions according to departmental policy.

Evaluates the patient's progress toward the attainment of clinical and educational outcomes.

• Conducts systematic and ongoing patient reassessments and evaluations.
• Evaluates the effectiveness of interventions in relation to desired outcomes and includes the patient, significant others and appropriate health care providers in the evaluation process as needed.
• Demonstrates use of critical thinking skills through the incorporation of ongoing assessment data in the revision of diagnoses, outcomes and the plan of care.
• Provides follow-up care in person via home visits and via telephone when needed and when appropriate.
• Documents patient's response to interventions as well as revisions in diagnoses, outcomes and plan of care according to departmental policy.

Job Requirements

Education:

• Nursing degree: Diploma, ASN or BSN (preferred), Ability to obtain BSN within 4 years

Certificates, Licenses, Registrations Required:

• Licensed to practice professional nursing as a registered nurse in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
• Requires current basic life support (BLS) certification
• Additional certifications may be required for certain practice areas.

Experience:

• Experience: 3-5 years experience, preferred
• Minimum of one year Ambulatory Care experience, pulmonary experience preferred.
• Telephone Triage experience

Knowledge and Skills:

• Basic computer proficiency inclusive of ability to access, enters, and interpret computerized data/information.
• Effective interpersonal skills to facilitate communication with various members of the health care team, patients, and families.
• Organizational skills to set priorities and efficiently complete assigned work. Multilingual skills (beyond that of English) in languages appropriate to the patient populations served by the medical center preferred.
• Relevant clinical experience in pulmonary or allergy, preferred.
• Analytical ability to solve clinical nursing issues and conduct quality improvement research utilization projects.
• Ability to effectively delegate appropriate patient care activities.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills appropriate to the patient populations served.
• Physical ability to meet the core job responsibilities in accordance with practice setting demands for the patient populations regularly served.
• Ability to effectively manage stress due to critical issues related to patient care, changing organizational climate and personnel issues.
• Ability to effectively work as part of a team.
• Bilingual Candidates are highly encouraged to apply
• Software/Hardware: Must be proficient and have a strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel, Word, etc.)