Registered Nurse Clinical Nurse Specialist - Labor & Delivery

SUMMARY :

Serves as clinical expert in the diagnosis and treatment of illness, and the delivery of evidence-based nursing intervention. Additionally, CNSs are clinical experts in executing delegated medical regimens associated with the diagnosis and treatment of disease for a specialty population. CNSs focus and apply knowledge to nursing assessments, diagnoses, and interventions, and the design of innovations. CNSs provide theory and evidence-based care to patients/clients in their attainment of health goals. CNSs work with other nurses to advance their nursing practices and improve outcomes and provide clinical expertise to effect system-wide changes to improve programs of care.


ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS :

PATIENT/CLIENT SPHERE

Conducts comprehensive, holistic wellness and illness assessments as needed, including elements of context (disease, culture and age-related) using known or innovative evidence-based techniques, tools, and methods; synthesizes assessment data & draws conclusion about individual/aggregate patient problems with etiologies amenable to nursing interventions.

Assists in providing care for difficult and complex patient care problems.


Collaborates with physicians and other team members to develop and implement an interdisciplinary plan of care for select patients.


Integrates evidence-based nursing interventions into comprehensive plan of care to enhance patient outcomes. Evaluates effect of interventions for individuals and populations of patients for clinical effectiveness, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, consumer satisfaction, and ethical considerations.

Identifies researchable patient problems/needs for clinical inquiry projects to describe clinical profiles, including etiologies of problems, needs for interventions, outcomes of current practice and costs.


Designs new programs - identifies, collects, and analyzes appropriate data on the target population that serve as the basis for demonstrating CNS impact on program outcomes.

NURSING PERSONNEL SPHERE

Sets standards for nursing practice based on professional specialty organizations and best available evidence to achieve nurse-sensitive outcomes.

Acts as clinical resource to staff nurses, assuring compliance with patient care standards and standards of research-based practice.

Assists staff in critiquing and appropriately applying nursing research and related research to nursing practice, while incorporating clinical, fiscal and resource management considerations.

Consults with staff in identifying learning and development needs; offers guidance in the form of instruction, resources and mentoring as appropriate.

Assesses patterns of outcomes related to nursing practice by assessing knowledge and skill of nursing personnel.

ORGANIZATION/NETWORK SPHERE

Consults on issues related to clinical specialty within departments throughout hospital.

Designs system-level assessment methods to identify organization structures, functions, and system-level variables that impact nursing practice and nurse-sensitive outcomes.

Leads nursing and multidisciplinary groups in developing and implementing innovative solutions/programs for patient care issues.

Contributes to the development of multidisciplinary standards of practice and evidence-based guidelines; collaborates with colleagues from other disciplines to seek support for change as related to clinical practice.


Implements methods and processes to sustain evidence-based changes in nursing practice, programs of care, and clinical innovation.

Disseminates outcomes of system-wide changes to stakeholders, including impact on nursing practice outcomes.

Evaluates effectiveness of nursing practices, multidisciplinary relationships, and organizational policies in meeting and sustaining identified outcomes of care.

Adheres to and supports team members in exhibiting TMCH values of integrity, community, compassion, and dedication.


Adheres to TMCH organizational and department-specific safety, confidentiality, values, policies and standards.

Performs related duties as assigned.

Perinatal:

Serves as clinical expert for Perinatal Services in the diagnosis and treatment of illness, and the delivery of evidence-based nursing intervention. CNSs focus and apply knowledge to nursing assessments, diagnoses, interventions, and the design of innovations. Utilize evidence practice to improve quality and patient safety, clinical outcomes, staff education, and processes. CNSs provide theory and evidence-based care to patients/clients in their attainment of health goals. CNSs collaborates with other nurses to advance their nursing practices and improve outcomes and provide clinical expertise to effect system-wide changes to improve programs of care.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION: Master's degree in Nursing with a clinical specialty.

EXPERIENCE : Five (5) years of clinical experience in a Clinical Nursing Specialist role in an acute care setting and five years (5) of RN experience in area of specialty.

LICENSURE OR CERTIFICATION : Must have and maintain a current Arizona state license as Registered Nurse. Must be able to meet qualifications for recognition as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Arizona by the AZ State Board of Nursing. Must obtain and maintain current certification in Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS).

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES :
• Knowledge of nursing care and assessment of best practices.
• Knowledge of regulations and policies as it relates to patient evaluation, care and information.
• Knowledge of age-specific principles of growth and development and life stages to meet the specific needs of neonate, pediatric, adolescent, adult or geriatric patients.
• Skill in evaluating comprehensive health assessments and evaluating results to ensure the most appropriate treatment option.
• Skill in providing the best practice patient care.
• Ability to read, analyze, and interpret professional journals, technical procedures, or governmental regulations.
• Ability to write reports, correspondence, and procedure protocols.
• Ability to effectively present information and respond to inquiries or complaints from patients and/or their representatives, and the general public.
• Ability to work with concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions, and to apply mathematical operations to solve or analyze job-related situations.
• Ability to identify positive or negative variances from expected outcomes.
• Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists.
• Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.