Registered Nurse - Rehab

JOB SUMMARY

Promotes and restores patients' health by completing the nursing process; collaborating with physicians and intermultidisciplinary team members; providing physical and psychological support to patients, friends, and families; delegate and evaluate care assigned to LPNs and CNAs to meet patient care needs.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Identifies Patient Care Requirements:
  • Establishes personal rapport with potential and actual patients and other persons in a position to understand care requirements.
    • Uses the nursing process as a framework to deliver care by establishing or contributing to a plan of care with the patient including a teaching plan, within 24 hours of admission.
    • Estimates length of stay, medical diagnoses and discharge plan.
    • Identifies nursing care needs, writes nursing interventions and identifies educational objectives appropriate to care standards by reassessing and documenting the effectiveness of nursing actions and the patients progress toward goals as the patient’s condition changes.
    • Communicates the plan and patient progress to the interdisciplinary team.
    • Delegates the plan of care to other licensed and unlicensed associates within their scope of practice.

Establishs Compassionate Environment:

• Provides emotional, psychological, and spiritual support to patients, friends, and families.

Promotes Patient's Independence:

• Establishs patient care goals.
  • Educates patient, friends, and family to understand condition, medications, and self-care skills.
    • Answers questions by applying rehabilitation principles to patients served by demonstrating competence in providing age specific care to pediatric patients, adult patients and geriatric patients.

Assures Quality of Care:

• Affixes to therapeutic standards.
  • Makes or recommends necessary adjustments following hospital and nursing division's philosophies and standards of care set by state board of nursing, State Nurse Practice Act, and other governing agency regulations.
  • Participates in performance improvement activities.
  • Directs and assesses care provided to assigned patients by LPNs, Nursing Assistants, agency personnel, students and other associates.

Resolves Patient Problems and Needs:

• Utilizes multidisciplinary team strategies.
  • Utilizes established communication methods to ensure resolution of patient problems and needs.
  • Communicates patient status to the interdisciplinary team.

Documents Patient Care Services:

• Documents delivery of services, changes in the patient’s condition and the patient’s response to nursing interventions in the medical record according to policies and procedures.

Maintains Patient Confidence and Organizational Confidentiality:

• Keeps information confidential.

Maintains Safe and Clean Working Environment:

• Complies with procedures, rules, and regulations.
  • Calls for assistance from health care support personnel.
    • Maintains a clean and safe unit environment.
      • Keeps patient rooms, supply rooms and hallways free from clutter.
        • Complies with procedures, rules and regulations.
          • Adheres to infection control policies and procedures, medication administration and storage procedures and controlled substance regulations.
            • Maintains compliance with professional, regulatory and governmental standards of care.
              • Demonstrates knowledge of responsibilities in an emergency situation (i.e., code blue, Dr. Wintergreen, etc.)

Ensures Operation of Equipment:

• Follows manufacturer's instructions.
  • Troubleshoots malfunctions.
    • Enters work orders for equipment repairs.
      • Evaluates new equipment and techniques.

Demonstrates Financial Accountability:

• Checks stock to determine inventory level.
  • Anticipates needed supplies using equipment/supplies as needed to accomplish job results.
    • Minimizes overtime by work prioritization and delegation.
      • Recognizes and complies with RN’s role in reimbursement for patient care services.
        • Identifies and provides input to Nurse Managers on work methods that reduce the cost and/or time required to deliver patient care.
          • Maintains awareness of unit budget.

Maintains Professional and Technical Knowledge:

• Identifies personal educational needs and opportunities.
  • Attends educational workshops.
    • Completes mandatory educational requirements.
• Reviews professional publications.
  • Establishes personal networks.
    • Participates in professional organizations.
      • Shares new knowledge with teams.
        • Attends unit meetings.
          • Reads unit memos.

Participates in committees, projects and PI activities.

• Attends unit meetings.
  • Participates in orienting new employees.
    • Meets dress code requirements.

Attends meetings as requested by organizational leaders.

• Positively represents the profession and organization at work and away from work.
  • Promotes and participates in organizational goals.
    • Mentors channels of communication among nursing shifts, disciplines, departments, and external customers.
      • Utilizes multidisciplinary team strategies, to assure resolution of patient problems and needs.