LPN Up to $32.05 + Shift Diff

About the role

Every effort has been made to identify the essential functions of this position. However, it in no way states or implies that these are the only duties you will be required to perform. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related, or is an essential function of the position.

Administrative Functions

• Direct the day-to-day functions of the nursing assistants in accordance with current rules, regulations, and guidelines that govern the long-term care facility.
• Ensure that all nursing personnel assigned comply with the written policies and procedures established by the facility.
• Periodically review the department’s policies, procedure manuals, job descriptions, etc., and make recommendations for revisions.
• Meet with assigned nursing staff and support personnel to plan the shift’s services, programs, and activities.
• Maintain the Nursing Service Procedures Manual so that it reflects the day-to-day nursing procedures performed in the facility.
• Ensure that all nursing service personnel comply with the procedures set forth in the Nursing Service Procedures Manual.
• Make written and oral reports or recommendations concerning the activities of your shift as required.
• Coordinate with other resident services to ensure the resident’s total regimen of care is maintained.
• Ensure that all nursing service personnel are in compliance with their respective job descriptions.
• Participate in the development, maintenance, and implementation of the facility’s quality assurance program for the nursing service department.
• Participate in facility surveys (inspections) made by authorized government agencies as requested.
• Periodically review the resident’s written discharge plan and participate in its updating as required.
• Assist in planning the nursing services portion of the resident’s discharge plan as necessary.
• Interpret the department’s policies and procedures to personnel, residents, visitors, and government agencies as required.
• Admit, transfer, and discharge residents as required.
• Complete accident/incident reports as necessary.
• Write resident charge slips and forward them to the Business Office.
• Maintain the Daily Census Report and submit it to the Business Office as required.
• Perform administrative duties such as completing medical forms, reports, evaluations, studies, and charting as necessary.
• Agree not to disclose assigned user ID code and password for accessing resident/facility information and promptly report suspected or known violations of such disclosure to the Administrator.
• Agree not to disclose residents’ protected health information and promptly report suspected or known violations of such disclosure to the Administrator.
• Report any known or suspected unauthorized attempt to access the facility’s information system.

Charting and Documentation

• Complete and file required recordkeeping forms/charts upon the resident’s admission, transfer, and/or discharge.
• Encourage attending physicians to review treatment plans, record, and sign their orders, progress notes, etc., in accordance with established policies.
• Receive telephone orders from physicians and record them on the Physicians’ Order Form.
• Transcribe physician’s orders to resident charts, cardex, medication cards, treatment/care plans as required.
• Chart nurses’ notes in an informative and descriptive manner that reflects the care provided to the resident, as well as the resident’s response to the care.
• Fill out and complete accident/incident reports and submit them to the Director as required.
• Chart all reports of accidents/incidents involving residents and follow established procedures.
• Record new/changed diet orders and forward information to the Food Services Department.
• Report all discrepancies noted concerning physician’s orders, diet changes, charting errors, etc., to the Nurse Supervisor.
• Fill out and complete transfer forms in accordance with established procedures.
• Ensure that appropriate documentation concerning unauthorized discharges is entered in the resident’s medical record in accordance with established procedures.
• Perform routine charting duties as required and in accordance with established charting and documentation policies and procedures.
• Sign and date all entries made in the resident’s medical record.

Drug Administration Functions

• Prepare and administer medications as ordered by the physician.
• Verify the identity of the resident before administering medication or treatment.
• Ensure that prescribed medication for one resident is not administered to another.
• Ensure that an adequate supply of floor stock medications, supplies, and equipment is on hand to meet the nursing needs of the residents; report needs to the Nurse Supervisor.
• Order prescribed medications, supplies, and equipment as necessary and in accordance with established policies.
• Ensure that narcotic records are accurate for your shift and notify the Nurse Supervisor of all drug and narcotic discrepancies noted on your shift.
• Review medication cards for completeness of information, accuracy in the transcription of the physician’s order, and adherence to stop-order policies.
• Notify the attending physician of automatic stop orders prior to the last dosage being administered.
• Dispose of drugs and narcotics as required and in accordance with established procedures.

Personnel Functions

• Participate in employee performance evaluations, determine your shift’s staffing requirements, and make recommendations to the Nurse Supervisor concerning employee dismissals, transfers, etc.
• Inform the Nurse Supervisor of staffing needs when assigned personnel fail to report to work; report absentee call-ins to the Nurse Supervisor.
• Review and evaluate your department’s workforce and make recommendations to the Nurse Supervisor.
• Develop work assignments and/or assist in completing and performing such assignments.
• Provide leadership to nursing personnel assigned to your unit/shift.
• Make daily rounds of your unit/shift to ensure that nursing service personnel are performing their work assignments in accordance with acceptable nursing standards; report problem areas to the Nurse Supervisor.
• Ensure that all nursing assistants are enrolled in or have graduated from an approved nursing assistant training program and that all nurse aide trainees are under the direct supervision of a licensed nurse.
• Meet with your shift’s nursing personnel on a regularly scheduled basis to assist in identifying and correcting problem areas and/or to improve services.
• Ensure that department personnel, residents, and visitors follow the department’s established policies and procedures at all times.
• Develop and maintain a good working rapport with interdepartmental personnel and other departments within the facility to ensure that nursing services and activities can be adequately maintained to meet the needs of the residents.
• Create and maintain an atmosphere of warmth, personal interest, positive emphasis, and a calm environment throughout the unit and shift.
• Review complaints and grievances made or filed by your assigned personnel and make appropriate reports to the Nurse Supervisor as required.
• Follow facility-established procedures and ensure that departmental disciplinary action is administered fairly and without regard to race, color, creed, national origin, age, sex, religion, handicap, or marital status.
• Receive/give the nursing report upon reporting in and ending shift duty hours.
• Report occupational exposures to blood, body fluids, infectious materials, and hazardous chemicals in accordance with the facility’s policies and procedures governing accidents and incidents.
• Report known or suspected incidents of fraud to the Administrator.
• Ensure that departmental computer workstations left unattended are properly logged off or the password-protected automatic screen saver activates within established facility policy guidelines.

Nursing Care Functions

• Inform nursing personnel of new admissions, their expected time of arrival, and room assignment; ensure that rooms are ready for new admissions.
• Greet newly admitted residents upon admission and escort them to their rooms as necessary.
• Participate in the orientation of new residents and family members to the facility.
• Make rounds with physicians as necessary.
• Requisition and arrange for diagnostic and therapeutic services as ordered by the physician and in accordance with established procedures.
• Consult with the resident’s physician in providing the resident’s care, treatment, rehabilitation, etc., as necessary.
• Review the resident’s chart for specific treatments, medication orders, diets, etc., as necessary.
• Implement and maintain established nursing objectives and standards.
• Make periodic checks to ensure that prescribed treatments are being properly administered by certified nursing assistants and to evaluate the resident’s physical and emotional status.
• Ensure that direct nursing care is provided by a licensed nurse, a certified nursing assistant, and/or a nurse aide trainee qualified to perform the procedure.
• Coordinate social and activity programs with nursing service schedules.
• Notify the resident’s attending physician when the resident is involved in an accident or incident.
• Notify the resident’s attending physician and next of kin when there is a change in the resident’s condition.
• Carry out restorative and rehabilitative programs, including self-help and care.
• Inspect the nursing service treatment areas daily to ensure that they are maintained in a clean and safe manner.
• Administer professional services such as catheterization, tube feedings, suction, applying and changing dressings/bandages, packs, colostomy and drainage bags, taking blood, giving massages and range-of-motion exercises, care for the dead/dying, etc., as required.
• Use restraints when necessary and in accordance with established policies and procedures.
• Obtain sputum, urine, and other specimens for lab tests as ordered.
• Take and record TPRs, blood pressures, etc., as necessary.
• Monitor seriously ill residents as necessary.
• Check foods brought into the facility by the resident’s family/visitors to ensure they are within the resident’s dietary allowances; report problem areas to the Nurse Supervisor and Dietary Supervisor.
• Ensure that personnel providing direct care to residents are providing such care in accordance with the resident’s care plan and wishes.
• Ensure that residents who are unable to call for help are checked frequently.
• Meet with residents and/or family members as necessary and report problem areas to the Nurse Supervisor.
• Assist in arranging transportation for discharged residents as necessary and ensure that discharged residents are escorted to the pickup area.
• Inform family members of the death of the resident and call funeral homes when requested by the family.
• Ensure that established post-mortem procedures are followed.

Staff Development

• Participate in developing, planning, conducting, and scheduling in-service training classes that provide instructions on how to do the job and ensure a well-educated nursing service department.
• Implement and maintain an effective orientation program that orients the new employee to your shift, its policies and procedures, and to his/her job position and duties.
• Assist in standardizing the methods in which work will be accomplished.
• Assist in training department personnel in identifying tasks that involve potential exposure to blood/body fluids.
• Assist the Director in planning clinical supervision for nurse aide trainees.
• Attend and participate in outside training programs.
• Attend and participate in annual facility in-service training programs as scheduled (e.g., OSHA, TB, HIPAA, Abuse Prevention, Safety, Infection Control, etc.).