Wound Care Nurse

NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue is America's oldest public hospital, established in 1736. Affiliated with the NYU School of Medicine, the 844-bed hospital is a major referral center for highly complex cases, with its 6,000 employees including highly skilled, interdisciplinary clinical staff. It sees more than 110,000 emergency room visits and 700,000 outpatient visits annually. Bellevue is an academic medical institution of international renown. We have served as an incubator for major innovations in public health, medical science, and medical education. Bellevue is a Level I Trauma Center delivering around-the-clock care in adult, pediatric, psychiatric and pediatric psychiatric emergencies as well as in the nationally-designated categories of cardiology, neurology, toxicology, and neonatology. In addition to providing comprehensive inpatient and outpatient state-of-the-art care Bellevue is a city-wide medical specialty referral source. Bellevue's clinical centers of excellence include: Emergency Medicine and Trauma Care; Cardiovascular Services; Designated Regional Perinatal Center and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (ICU); Comprehensive Children's Psychiatric Emergency Program; and Cancer Services.

At NYC Health + Hospitals, our mission is to deliver high quality care health services, without exception. Every employee takes a person-centered approach that exemplifies the ICARE values (Integrity, Compassion, Accountability, Respect, and Excellence) through empathic communication and partnerships between all persons.

Work Shifts

8:00 A.M. - 4:30 P.M.

Weekend and holiday rotation required.

37.5 hours per week.

Duties & Responsibilities

Purpose of Position :

Under supervision, and as part of the multidisciplinary team, provides care related to assessment and treatment of patients with wounds, ostomies, continence and foot wounds, as well as patient and staff education and consultation, while ensuring optimal utilization of resources, service delivery, safe patient care, and compliance with all applicable local, state, federal and NYC Health + Hospitals rules and regulations and nursing standards of care.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities :
1. Conducts comprehensive assessment and continuous assessment of deep wounds, skin tears, ostomies, severe burns, pressure injuries or bedsores, continence and diabetic foot wounds to determine potential wound complications, immediate treatment needs, and long-term treatment plans; works with other members of the health care team to determine if additional treatments or changes in care are required.
2. Collaborates with clinical providers and health care team to establish individualized, comprehensive plans of care for patients with complex wounds, ostomies, and/or continence conditions based on the patient risks,
diagnosis and individual patient needs. Creates a plan of care for the interdisciplinary health care team, including the staff nurses, to follow.
3. Completes a thorough wound care evaluation and documents assessments and treatment recommendation.
4. Provides staff, patient and family education and counseling regarding wound care, risk factors associated with pressure injury, infection prevention, treatment measures and other related issues; provides teaching, guidance and direction to allied nursing personnel in rendering patient care. Refers other acute/chronic skin alterations to appropriate specialty services (i.e., Surgery, Vascular, Podiatry, Dermatology, Plastic).
5. Develops and implements wound and skin care prevention, and treatment programs, and provides corresponding education to patients, family members/caregivers, and health care setting and allied personnel; evaluates and monitors effectiveness of programs to ensure successful functioning and efficiency.
6. Participates in product evaluation for ostomy and skin care needs for the health care setting to ensure cost-effective quality patient care.
7. Participates in the development, evaluation and revision of health care setting policies, procedures, and guidelines
related to wound care, based on patient needs, evidenced-based trends, and industry standards.
8. Collaborates with appropriate staff to establish protocols, which support best practices to achieve optimal clinical outcomes. Serves as a clinical expert to provide staff nurses with wound treatment protocols and assists in the education of staff nurses on how to stage wounds.
9. Observes, records, and interprets patient response and wound status, reporting any changes to appropriate members of the health care team; records and maintains nursing care plans and progress notes on patients.
10. Participates in departmental and interdisciplinary conferences, nursing quality committee, and/or quality improvement initiatives relating to wound, ostomy and continence issues.
11. Manages the collection and analysis of all data related to Hospital Acquired Pressure Injuries. Utilizes quality measures of pressure injuries and standards to mitigate risk and drive improvement efforts in the performance of nursing care.
12. If assigned to Community Care, maintains ongoing follow-up evaluation for patients after discharge from the health care setting to provide continuity of care.
13. Performs other professional nursing activities as delegated by nursing service administration.

Minimum Qualifications
1. Valid license and current registration to practice as a Registered Professional Nurse issued by the New York State Education Department (NYSED); and
2. Current certification in one of the following:
• Certified Wound Ostomy Continence Nurse (CWOCN) issued by the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing Certification Board (WOCNCB); or
• Certified Wound Ostomy Nurse (CWON) issued by the WOCNCB; or
• Certified Wound Care Nurse (CWCN) issued by the (WOCNCB); or
• Certified Wound Specialist (CWS) issued by the American Board of Wound Management (ABWM); or
• Wound Care Certified Certification (WCC) issued by the National Alliance of Wound Care and Ostomy (NAWCO).
3. Holds or obtains a valid and current certification in Basic Life Support (BLS) through the American Heart Association (AHA).

Additional Salary Compensation

In addition to base compensation, you may also receive the following based on the Collectively-Bargained Agreement:

An annual education differential if you currently possess an appropriate degree in nursing or an allied health discipline from an accredited college or university, as listed below:

Bachelors in allied health discipline = $900
Masters in allied health discipline = $1,200
Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN) = $1,800
Masters of Science in Nursing (MSN) = $2,000
Doctorate in Education, Nursing Practice or PhD in Nursing (DNP) = $2,500

An annual nursing experience differential ranging from $1,042 up to $8,645 for up to 10 years of experience if you have outside nursing experience as a Wound Care Nurse.

Wound Care Nurses are also eligible to receive up to $10,000 in additional annual pay for holding certain wound, ostomy, and/or continence certifications.

Benefits

NYC Health and Hospitals offers a competitive benefits package that includes:

• Comprehensive Health Benefits for employees hired to work 20+ hrs. per week
• Retirement Savings and Pension Plans
• Paid Holidays and Vacation in accordance with employees' Collectively bargained contracts
• Loan Forgiveness Programs for eligible employees
• College tuition discounts and professional development opportunities
• College Savings Program
• Union Benefits for eligible titles
• Multiple employee discounts programs
• Commuter Benefits Programs

If you wish to apply for this position, please apply online by clicking the "Apply for Job" button.