Clinical Nurse, ACU - Night Shift - $10k Sign on

Clinical Nurse

The Clinical Nurse performs a variety of nursing care procedures requiring professional knowledge and consideration of specific patient conditions and treatments, and ability to work independently in completing assignments. Guidelines include physician's orders, standards of care, nursing policies and procedures manuals, hospital policies. Nursing duties include support to individuals of all ages and their families.

Necessary Qualifications

Education:

• Associate or Bachelor Degree in Nursing

Experience:

• One-year clinical experience working as a nurse in an acute or sub-acute facility.

License and Certification:

• A valid, current, full and unrestricted Professional Nursing License to practice nursing in any state of the United States of America, The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory of the United States
• Must have and maintain current valid certifications of the following throughout employment:
• Basic Life Support (BLS) from the American Heart Association
• Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) from the American Heart Association
• Complete Patient Sitter Competency Training (Upon Hire)
• Complete Trauma Care After Resuscitation - TCAR within six months of hire
• National Institutes of Health (NIH) NIHSS NIH Stroke Scale must be completed within 6 months of hire

Other Skills and Abilities:

• A record of satisfactory performance in all prior and current employment as evidenced by positive employment references from previous and current employers. All employment references must address and indicate success in each one of the following areas:
• Positive working relationships with others
• Possession of high ethical standards and no history of complaints
• Reliable and dependable; reports to work as scheduled without excessive absences
• Knowledge of normal growth, development, and life cycle changes. This also includes knowledge of the physical, psychosocial and behavioral characteristics of the group for which care is provided.
• Knowledge of disease entities to recognize complications and therapeutic interventions required.
• Knowledge of assessment practices related to pain management and various treatment modalities of pain relief.
• Knowledge of pharmaceuticals to recognize the desired effects, side effects and complications on their use, with emphasis on vasopressors and emergency medications titration of these medications.
• Knowledge of infection control procedures and safety precautions.
• Possesses and employs an ability to communicate with patients and families during time of emotional and physical stress
• Successful completion of and positive results form all background and reference checks, including positive employment references from authorized representatives of past and current employers demonstrating to the satisfaction of TCRHCC a record of satisfactory performance and that the applicant can perform the essential functions of the job.
• Successful completion of fingerprint clearance requirements, physical examinations, and other screenings indicating that the applicant is qualified to be employed by TCRHCC and demonstrating to the satisfaction of TCRHCC that the applicant can perform the essential functions of the job.
• Submission of all required employment-related documents, application, resumes, references, and other required information free of false, misleading or incomplete information, as determined by TCRHCC.

Mental and Physical Effort:

The physical and mental demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Physical:

Work requires prolonged periods of standing; walking; talking or hearing; sitting watching, observing, concentrating on computer monitors and equipment; use of hands to finger, handle, feel; bending, stooping, kneeling, crouching; reaching with hands and arms; and, taste or smell. Agility and the ability to lift, pull and bend are required to move patients to and from beds, wheelchairs, stretchers, et cetera, and in moving equipment and medical supplies. Must be able to lift up to 50 lbs. frequently through entire shift. Most be able to move, pull/push, lift, maneuver more than 100 lbs. when caring for patients and must be able to use proper body mechanics and lifting equipment when available. Must be able to discern when working with over a hundred pounds when, how, and who to ask for assistance to protect and prevent self-injury. Must have the ability to hear and recognize alarms on equipment; client calls; instructions from physicians/department staff; and, hear overhead pages through loudspeaker. This position requires vision required to see close; distant; colored; peripheral; and depth perception. Must be able to adjust visual focus as needed. to ask for assistance. This position requires the ability to perform repetitive motion actions in both feet; and, hands including prolonged grasping of simple/light action; intermittent grasping of firm/heavy action; and prolonged ability of fine dexterity.

Mental:

Contacts often require tact and sensitivity as those related to stressful situation such as death, dying, and catastrophic illnesses. Must be able to prioritize and use good judgment. Must be able to coordinate a variety of issues while being frequently interrupted. Must be able to work with the attitude of team building with other staff; collaborate with multiple departments and job positions. Must be willing to assist when able and as needed with other team players.

Environmental:

Required to work prolong periods of time in an environment of toxic or caustic chemicals. May work and be exposed frequently to Infection Diseases. Will be working occasionally around other environmental conditions including: Chemical Agents; Dust, Fumes, Gases; Extremes in Temperature or Humidity; Hazardous or Moving Equipment; Unprotected Heights; loud noises; risk of radiation; vibration; and, risk of electric shock. Typical environmental noise level is moderate. As with any area of a Health care setting, must be able to work around and with infectious diseases.

Responsibilities

Essential Functions:

1. Responsible for providing direct observation of patients as directed by the nursing plan of care and under the supervision of the nursing staff and/or nursing department supervisor. Responsible for assisting nursing staff to create, maintain and provide a safe environment.
2. Develop individualized patient care plans and periodic evaluation of plans to ensure that intended results are being achieved.
3. Interview patients and family members and consults with attending physicians, other staff members to determine and evaluate the kind of health and physical care needed.
4. Carry out treatments and procedures per scope of practice.
5. Maintain health records by documenting observations, nursing interventions and therapeutic measures administered in an accurate, efficient and timely manner.
6. Participate in orientating new employees.
7. Maintain professional knowledge and proficiency in nursing through continuing education, staff meetings, workshops and serving on nursing committees.
8. Provide counseling and teaching to patients and families or surrogates on preventive, curative and rehabilitative measures involved in health care.
9. Recognize adverse signs and symptoms, which are not always apparent and to react promptly in emergency situations including the implementation of life saving procedures.
10. Participate in the development, implementation and evaluation of standards of care, Quality Assurance and Infection Control activities.
11. Monitor and initiate corrective action to maintain the environment of care including equipment and material resources.
12. Participate in the identification of clinical or operational performance improvement opportunities and in performance improvement activities.
13. Delegate tasks and supervise the activities of other licensed and unlicensed care providers as appropriate in accordance with licensure standards.
14. Perform phlebotomy, intravenous cannulation, administers IV medications.
15. Float to other clinics as required.
16. Act as charge nurse for a group of patients or an entire unit when assigned.
17. When assigned as team leader, provides guidance, direction and training to ancillary nursing and other personnel.
18. Responsible for electronic health records data entry pertinent to patient service role.
19. Ensure proper PPE is always worn while on duty including but not limited to, face mask, gloves, gown, isolation gown, NIOSH-approved N95 filtering facepiece respirator or higher, if available), and eye or face shield.
20. Complete all donning and doffing tasks in a safe acceptable method and discard of used PPE accordingly. (Refer to the CDC website for most current updates).
21. Complete task training for all routine cleaning and decontamination processes for all surfaces contaminated by a communicable disease to ensure a high level of patient, visitor, employee and external customer satisfaction