Overview

You Matter Here! Heywood Healthcare values our employees! We offer competitive wages, great benefits and generous earned time off. Come work where you will matter! 

Hours: Per Diem

Responsibilities

Essential Functions

• Assesses (and reassesses), plans, implements, and evaluates nursing interventions/plans of care/patient goals in collaboration with the Registered Nurse.

• Provides patient care based on standards of care, standards of practice, protocols, and established policies and procedures within scope of license.

• Respects each patient as an individual; provides care that fosters the patient’s sense of dignity and positive self-regard.

• Provides patient/family teaching based on identified learning needs, readiness to learn, and barriers to learning.

• Collaboratively plans and prepares patient/family for discharge with the RN, provider and interdisciplinary team.

• Appropriately delegates and supervises interventions performed by Certified Nurse’s Aides.

• Appropriately prioritizes patient care (e.g. seeks assistance as needed from appropriate resources, recognizes need for emergency intervention, etc.).

• Provides thorough, timely, and accurate documentation of all pertinent data, therapeutic interventions and patient responses according to established standards.
• Provides timely and thorough report on assigned patients to other health care team members to ensure integration of services and continuity of patient care.
• Promotes learning for colleagues and self, attends professional development programs, etc.).

• Proactively identifies risk to patient safety and identifies opportunities to reduce medical/health care errors (i.e. appropriate reporting of errors/incidents). 

• Identifies ethical issues in care and develops plan in conjunction with RN and team to address such issues.

• Safely administers medications in accordance with physician’s orders, protocols & policies, done within scope of practice.

• Assesses patient pain level upon admission and as necessary, depending upon diagnosis utilizing the numerical pain scale.

• Reassesses effectiveness of pain control and notifies physicians as needed, as well as, documents assessment 
• Responsible for obtaining supporting information and completing required documentation related to medication reconciliation for use by the Attending MD.

• Provides ongoing assessment and teaching to the surgical patient/family, utilizing current standards and protocols.

• Recognizes normal and deviant progress patterns and reports problems or concerns to RN & provider in a timely manner.

• Utilizes pain management devices and other techniques to ensure proper pain relief.

• Sets up, maintains and troubleshoots other equipment related to the surgical patient such as; traction/orthopedic equipment/devices, feeding pumps, chest tubes and drains, etc.

• Assists patients with personal hygiene, eating and drinking and provides emotional support while listening to concerns.

• Institutes appropriate measures in life threatening situations, ie; calls a CODE when necessary.

• Evaluates, reports to RN & provider, and takes appropriate action for patients with chest pain or other cardiac related symptoms.

• Institutes and documents cardiac patient/family education.

• Recognizes normal and abnormal laboratory and diagnostic results and appropriately notifies the charge RN & provider of changes in a timely manner.

• Performs assessment of psychiatric and physical needs on each patient upon admission and uses data collected to create and/or revise nursing plan of care.

• Takes instruction from and reports updates to registered nurse and or overseeing provider

• Assesses the unit milieu and makes decisions to maintain a safe environment for all patients, staff and visitors.

• Understands the indication, therapeutic effect, dosage, and side effects of psychoactive medications on the geriatric patient.

• De-escalates volatile situations and/or individuals using non-violent techniques.

• Reports unusual or drastic changes in patient’s symptoms or behavior to Registered Nurse or overseeing provider

• Participates actively in multi-disciplinary treatment team in planning, coordinating, implementing and evaluating patient care.

• Meets with families and significant others and residential providers in planning appropriate disposition and discharge.

Statement of Other Duties:This document describes the major duties and responsibilities for this job, and is not intended to be a complete list of all tasks and functions. It should be understood, therefore, that employees may be asked to perform job-related duties beyond those explicitly described. Functional Demands Physical Requirements:Exerts 20 to 50 pounds of force occasionally, and/or 10 to 25 pounds of force frequently, and/or greater than negligible up to 10 pounds of force constantly to move objects. Frequently reaches (extending hands and arms in any direction), handles (seizing, holding, grasping, turning, or working with hands), and feels (perceiving attributes of items such as size, shape, temperature, or texture by means of fingertips). Occasionally stoops (bending the body downward and forward by bending the spine at the waist), and kneels (bending the legs at knee to come to rest on knee or knees). Organizational Expectations Behavioral Attributes:The following behavioral attributes are required: achievement motivation, concern for order, flexibility, initiative, self-confidence, customer service oriented, interpersonal effectiveness, teamwork, analytical thinking and information seeking.

Qualifications

Job Requirements Minimum Education

• Completed state-approved LPN education program

Minimum work Experience

• One year med/surg experience with skilled nursing care and post-op orthopedics experience preferred
• Previous experience in inpatient Hospital or Skilled Nursing setting is preferred

Required Licenses

• Current LPN license to practice in MA
• Current American Heart Association CPR certification card