ALS TECHNICIAN - EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

Responsibilities

• Demonstrates clinical assessment skills by active participation in plan of patient care.
• Completes and documents direct patient care without supervision, including vital signs, intake and output, point of care testing, specimen collection, weights, venipunctures, and specified procedures.
• Collaborates routinely with nurses and physicians regarding patient care needs.
• Brings issues that could affect quality of care to the attention of the Clinical Nurse Coordinator or other management staff.
• Performs basic triage functions, documenting findings on the triage form.
• Serves as a role model and assists others in completing triage functions.
• Participates in an individualized plan of care, complying with established guidelines and standards that identify problems, establish priorities, and indicate measurable outcomes.
• Demonstrates skills to assist others in active participation in an individualized plan of care.
• Anticipates and addresses the special personal needs of patients in the department.
• Demonstrates leadership, coaching, and mentoring skills to assist others in developing an interdisciplinary plan of care and identifying patient needs.
• Assists with clerical and transport duties of stable patients to appropriate nursing units and ancillary departments.
• Takes independent action to provide smooth, continuous care of Emergency Department patients.
• Implements physician orders, directives from nurses, or departmental guidelines promptly and accurately.
• Verifies the appropriateness of orders or guidelines before implementation.
• Functions as a unit resource, preceptor, and patient advocate to other staff members.
• Provides treatment within scope, including IV initiation, venipuncture, urinary catheter care (insertion and removal), straight catheterizations, suctioning, and application of splints.
• Monitors cardiac rhythms, interprets rhythm strips, and documents findings; notifies nursing staff of abnormal findings.
• Actively participates in departmental operations, including staying updated on operational issues via voice and email.
• Develops plans to improve operational efficiencies for management review.
• Ensures departmental readiness by restocking and checking supplies and equipment each shift.
• Participates in quality improvement initiatives, education of new staff, and other departmental improvements.
• Engages in activities that improve department operations, such as volunteering and precepting new staff.
• Promotes a positive attitude, team spirit, and a safe, clean, orderly, and professional environment.
• Serves as a department liaison for EMS (air and ground), ensuring proper patient transition from pre-hospital to in-hospital care.
• Manages EMS equipment, including logging, retrieval, cleaning, and restocking.
• Transports patients requiring cardiac monitoring and reports changes in condition promptly.
• Performs central monitoring of telemetry patients, interprets rhythm strips, and documents according to policy.
• Monitors patency of peripheral intravenous sites and reports complications promptly.
• Transports stable patients with drug infusions (e.g., nitroglycerin, cardizem, heparin, amiodarone) and reports side effects or complications.
• Recognizes and reports changes in patient condition requiring activation of the Rapid Response Team or Code Blue.
• Initiates basic resuscitative measures until the appropriate team arrives.
• Performs post-cardiac catheterization groin checks as assigned.
• Performs IV insertion, venipuncture, and EKG monitoring and interpretation; reports and documents findings to appropriate caregivers.

Requirements

• High School Diploma, GED, or higher level of education.
• Strong leadership ability, good organizational skills, independent and critical thinking skills, sound judgment, and knowledge of legal aspects and liability of nursing practice.
• Ability to communicate complex and/or controversial topics to a wide and diverse audience.
• Ability to work with a multidisciplinary team.

Preferred Qualifications

• One to two years of pre-hospital experience.
• National Registry and/or State Certification.
• Completion of a Paramedic Program under national standard curriculum (providing paramedic course document or current paramedic card).

Licenses, Certifications & Clearances

• Current Basic Life Support (BLS) approved curriculum of the American Heart Association (CPR and AED).
• Act 33, Act 34, and Act 73 FBI Clearance.

Schedule

• Incumbents will be scheduled based on operational need (rotating shifts, standby, on-call, etc.).
• Travel may be expected locally between Independence Health locations.
• May require overtime, on-call duties, and shift rotations (8-hour, 10-12-hour shifts).

Work Environment

Effective March 2020 or during a pandemic: goggles, face shield, and mask are required according to CDC guidelines.

When lift requirement exceeds 50 lbs, lift assistance (two-person) and/or transfer device is required.

Physical Demands

• Environmental Exposures:
  • Frequent exposure to blood/body fluids, chemicals, and latex.
  • Occasional exposure to extreme noise (>85 dB), mechanical hazards, and ionizing radiation.
  • Rare exposure to extreme heat, extreme cold, heights, confined spaces, and vibrating tools.
• Physical Activities:
  • Frequently: Bending, standing, walking, hand/arm coordination, pushing/pulling (up to 50 lbs), keyboard/computer operation, and lifting (floor to knuckle up to 10 lbs, seat pan to knuckle up to 50 lbs).
  • Occasionally: Sitting, kneeling, squatting, twisting/turning, reaching above shoulder level, reaching forward, lifting (knuckle to shoulder up to 20 lbs, shoulder to overhead up to 10 lbs), and transferring/pushing/pulling patients.
  • Rarely: Climbing stairs, climbing ladders, and pulling/pushing objects overhead.
• Sensory Requirements:
  • Constantly: Seeing near with acuity, feeling (sensation), color vision, and hearing clearly.