Registered Nurse - Rehab

Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital Emily Howatt Pliskatt Pediatric Unit is a specialized inpatient pediatric rehabilitation leader with programs designed specifically to treat children with complex medical and congenital conditions.

• 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; delegating and evaluating care assigned to LPNs and CNAs to meet patient care needs.
• Essential functions
  • Identifies patient care requirements
    • By establishing personal rapport with potential and current 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
      • establishing or contributing to prioritization of goals appropriate to the patient’s age and ability to learn
      • estimated length of stay, medical diagnoses and discharge plan
      • Identifying nursing care needs, writing nursing interventions and identifying 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
      • by communicating the plan and patient progress to the interdisciplinary team
      • delegating the plan of care to other licensed and unlicensed associates within their scope of practice.
  • Establishes a compassionate environment
    • By providing emotional, psychological, and spiritual support to patients, friends, and families.
  • Promotes patient's independence
    • By establishing patient care goals
      • educating patients, friends, and family to understand condition, medications, and self-care skills
      • answering 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
    • By adhering to therapeutic standards
      • measuring health outcomes against patient care goals and standards
      • making or recommending necessary adjustments
      • following hospital and nursing division's philosophies and standards of care set by the state board of nursing, the State Nurse Practice Act, and other governing agency regulations
      • by participating in performance improvement activities
      • by directing and assessing care provided to assigned patients by LPNs, Nursing Assistants, agency personnel, students and other associates.
  • Resolves patient problems and needs
    • By utilizing multidisciplinary team strategies
      • by utilizing established communication methods to ensure resolution of patient problems and needs
      • by communicating patient status to the interdisciplinary team.
  • Documents patient care services
    • By documenting 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
    • By keeping information confidential.
  • Maintains a safe and clean working environment
    • By complying with procedures, rules, and regulations
      • calling for assistance from health care support personnel
      • by maintaining a clean and safe unit environment
      • keeping patient rooms, supply rooms and hallways free from clutter
      • by complying with procedures, rules and regulations
      • by adhering to infection control policies and procedures, medication administration and storage procedures and controlled substance regulations.
    • By maintaining compliance with professional, regulatory and governmental standards of care.
    • By demonstrating knowledge of responsibilities in an emergency situation.
  • Ensures operation of equipment
    • By following manufacturer's instructions
      • troubleshooting malfunctions
      • entering work orders for equipment repairs
      • evaluating new equipment and techniques.
  • Demonstrates financial accountability
    • By checking stock to determine inventory level
      • anticipating needed supplies
      • using equipment/supplies as needed to accomplish job results
      • By minimizing overtime by work prioritization and delegation
      • recognizes and complies with RN’s role in reimbursement for patient care services.
    • By identifying and providing input to Nurse Managers on work methods that reduce the cost and/or time required to deliver patient care.
    • By maintaining awareness of the unit budget.
  • Maintains professional and technical knowledge
    • By identifying personal educational needs and opportunities
      • attending educational workshops
      • completing mandatory educational requirements
      • reviewing professional publications
      • establishing personal networks
      • participating in professional organizations
      • sharing new knowledge with teams
      • attending unit meetings
      • reading unit memos
      • participating in committees, projects and PI activities.
    • By maintaining responsibility for own professional development through active participation in in-service and/or continuing education programs.
  • Maintains a Cooperative Relationship Among Health Care Teams
    • By communicating information
      • responding to requests
      • building rapport
      • participating in team problem-solving methods
      • by communicating patient care or team issues to the nurse manager or supervisor
      • holding each team member accountable for patient and team outcomes
      • participate in team meetings
      • offering suggestions for improvement to the program director
      • utilizing the chain of command to present issues or concerns
      • demonstrate positive conflict resolution skills with all associates
      • treat all associates with dignity and respect.
  • Contributes to organizational team effort
    • By arriving on duty as scheduled, maintaining attendance, punching in and out as per Good Shepherd policy and maintaining etime sheet.
    • By demonstrating flexibility in response to change by offering to assist team members with patient care needs and unit activities that arise throughout the shift
      • participating in orienting new employees
      • meeting dress code requirements.
    • By attending meetings as requested by organizational leaders
      • by positively representing the profession and organization at work and away from work
      • promoting and participating in organizational goals.
    • By mentoring channels of communication among nursing shifts, disciplines, departments, and external customers.
    • By utilizing multidisciplinary team strategies, to assure resolution of patient problems and needs.
• Qualifications
  • To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
    • Education
      • Associate's Degree in Nursing or Nursing Diploma required
      • Bachelor's Degree in Nursing preferred
    • Work Experience
      • Previous med-surg experience or rehabilitation experience preferred
    • Licenses / Certifications
      • Registered Nurse license required
      • Basic Life Support / CPR, as a healthcare provider, per the American Heart Association required
      • PALS certification preferred for all staff (must be acquired within first 6 months of employment)
      • Certification in Rehabilitation Nursing preferred (must be acquired with 2 years of employment)