RN PACU

About the Role

As our Staff RN, you will be a pivotal healthcare professional, delivering compassionate, high-quality care that truly impacts our patients' well-being and recovery. Every day, you will leverage your expertise to provide individualized, comprehensive care, making critical assessments, performing skilled procedures, and meticulously implementing patient care plans. You'll collaborate seamlessly within an interdisciplinary team, contributing to a dynamic environment focused on optimal patient outcomes.

To thrive in this vital role, you will possess keen assessment skills, acute critical thinking, and a patient-first mindset, driven by a profound enthusiasm to help others. Your sense of urgency and dedication to excellence in a fast-paced environment will not only support patient recovery but also fuel your own career advancement.

Responsibilities

• Provides safe therapeutic care in a holistic and systematic way, incorporating differences into the provision of care.
• Integrates knowledge, skills, and experiences to meet the needs of patients and families throughout the continuum, including patient and family education.
• Performs psychosocial/physiologic assessments that integrate changing data.
• Formulates a plan of care based on trends of similar patients, including patient education and discharge planning.
• Collaborates with patients/families to identify realistic desired outcomes.
• Administers prescribed medications and intravenous solutions according to standards of care and hospital protocols.
• Assesses pain level in all patients using approved scales to promote comfort and enable patients to participate in their healing.
• Provides timely and appropriate assessment/intervention and identifies comfort function goals with patients.
• Tailors and prioritizes caring practice to individual needs, including cultural, ethical, and spiritual needs.
• Participates in the planning of routine transitional health care needs (e.g., treatment options, patient placement options, end-of-life options).
• Adapts standards and guidelines for individual patients.
• Reports significant observed or reported alterations in the patient's condition in a timely manner.
• Adapts planned educational programs and information to individual patients and families by modifying teaching strategies or content.
• Integrates education during the delivery of patient care.
• Ensures efficiency in the delivery of care: determines immediate priorities and offers solutions for problems.
• Makes independent clinical decisions based on knowledge drawn from education and experience.
• Actively advocates for patient rights and identifies potential conflict, seeking counsel for resolution.
• Evaluates patient outcomes and makes revisions in the plan of care, identifying variances from expected outcomes.
• Documents all patient care activities as per documentation standards and assists the healthcare team with the documentation process.
• Labels lab specimens, maintaining the performance standard of zero tolerance for mislabeled specimens.
• Communicates effectively and works cooperatively with others, respecting and understanding other clinical disciplines.
• Uses an integrated approach toward patient outcomes.
• Consistently communicates and collaborates with the healthcare team members, patients, and families to maximize patient outcomes.
• Stays informed of unit initiatives and incorporates the outcomes of the team/committees' work into practice.
• Participates on unit teams, work groups, and/or committees, demonstrating willingness to give 100% and voluntarily assist others.
• Works with the team to achieve maximum productivity.
• Utilizes standards, guidelines, and pathways for care delivery and incorporates data and information to continuously improve care and practice to enhance outcomes.
• Participates in quality improvement initiatives and incorporates research findings into nursing practice.
• Ensures improvements in practice settings by assuming responsibility for self-development in lifelong learning.
• Provides direction and guidance to others regarding practice, serving as a resource, preceptor, and mentor.
• Demonstrates leadership skills in decision-making and problem-solving.
• Acts as a clinical resource and serves as a mentor to healthcare team members, displaying leadership behaviors.
• Identifies own learning needs based on self-evaluation and progress made from previous year’s goals.
• Demonstrates evidence of a minimum of 20 hours of self-development activities with a minimum of 6 formal contact hours (beyond orientation/fellowship program).
• Maintains own Employee Continuing Education Record and completes all initial and annual competency validations as required by position.

Requirements

• Required: Diploma of Nursing or Associate of Nursing.
• Two (2) years of Critical Care nursing experience, upon hire.
• Registered Nurse: CA, upon hire.
• Basic Life Support - CPR, upon hire.
• Advanced Cardiac Life Support, upon hire.
• Pediatric Advanced Life Support, within 6 months.
• Preferred: Bachelor of Nursing, upon hire.
• Preferred: Three (3) years of Critical Care nursing experience.

About the Workplace

Founded in 1941, Dignity Health - Dominican Hospital is a 188-bed, acute care, nonprofit hospital located in Santa Cruz, California. Serving over 80,000 patients annually, the hospital offers a full complement of services including heart care, orthopedics, and a Family Birthing Center. Additionally, Dominican Hospital has been recognized as an LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality High Performer by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. It is a Joint Commission-certified Primary Stroke Center and has been awarded the AMA/ASA’s Get the Guidelines - Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement, recognizing the hospital’s commitment to providing the best stroke care.

Pay

$103.83 - $112.14 per hour.