Charge Nurse (RN) - Columbia County Medical Center

Wellstar Health System•Magnolia, AR

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The RN Clinical Charge Nurse is responsible for directing and overseeing the daily activities of the unit on an assigned shift to assure successful safe delivery of care. The Charge Nurse is a caregiver and often takes modified patient care assignment. They practice in a clinical environment that is administered by Nurse Managers and other leaders and is supported through the WellStar Shared Governance Model. The framework for practice is steered by the WellStar Professional Nursing Practice Model and evidence based practice and research. RN competencies are derived from these models and supported by the WellStar Core Competencies. The RN Clinical Charge Nurse is a proactive member of an interdisciplinary team of licensed and unlicensed care givers who ensure that patients, families and significant others receive individualized high quality, safe patient care. Expectations of practice include: accountability; responsibility and authority for the practice of nursing; effective teamwork; delegation; communication; respect; personal development; and development of team members. The role contributes to the establishment and maintenance of practices that ensure excellence in patient care, provides for the efficient use of resources, and undertakes leadership task such as staff schedules, unit patient flow, subject matter expertise for clinical concerns, physician rounding, committee involvement, survey readiness, and other task as assigned by the manager, which are basic to the department's ability to function in a smooth and effective manner. The RN Clinical Charge Nurse is a resource to other areas opportunity to learn about operational functionality and hospital/facility awareness. He/she is assists in the growth and development of team members in the unit to help build department skills sets and to inspire expertise. This leader brings with him or her ability to build rapport between nurses and physicians to continue service to the patients and is a role model to others. It is expected that all RN Clinical Charge Nurses are licensed, knowledgeable and uphold the practice of nursing as outlined by the Georgia Professional Nurse Practice Act and implements the Scope of Practice and Code of Ethics Standards put forth by the American Nurses Association. As a member of the patient services team, it is expected the individual upholds the voice of the patient, system policies and procedures while supporting service excellence goals. She/he possesses (advanced) clinical expertise and utilizes this expertise to support and promote the delivery of safe, age appropriate and culturally aware patient care and serves as a partner in care.

Requirements

Minimum 1 year nursing experience Required
Ability to read, write and speak English language, optimize the use of technology to support clinical care and holds basic computer skills.
Strong interpersonal skills, critical thinking and decision-making skills.
Works well with others in a collaborative, team-focused, patient centered way.
Communicates effectively both orally and in written form with all levels of internal and external resources.
Analytical skills necessary to solve technical, clinical and managerial challenges.
Ability to communicate verbally and in writing.
Sufficient clinical and leadership experience to ensure competence and credibility to lead others.
BLS - Basic Life Support or ARC-BLS - Amer Red Cross Basic Life Support or BLS-I - Basic Life Support - Instructor
RN - Reg Nurse (Single State) or RN-COMPACT - RN - Multi-state Compact

Nice To Haves

Minimum 2 years Experience as relief charge with clinical expertise Preferred
National certification in area of specialty Upon Hire Preferred
Associates Nursing or Diploma (Nurse) Nursing or Bachelors Nursing-Preferred

Responsibilities

Directing and overseeing the daily activities of the unit on an assigned shift to assure successful safe delivery of care.
Making patient assignments, considering new grads, float, and type of patient.
Performing daily discharge/length of stay reviews.
Rounding with Physicians/Surgeons.
Assigning surgery beds in conjunction with the surgery schedule.
Consulting with Supervisor Nursing Administration (House Supervisor) on bed flow and availability.
Managing assignments for Emergency Department sections, waiting room, and multiple areas open at different times.
Rounding on every patient daily to evaluate quality and appropriateness of patient care, including corrective action when needed utilizing peer coaching and accountability.
Performing or providing oversight for the Nursing Process (assessment; diagnosis; identification of outcomes; planning; implementation and evaluation) in the performance of clinical care using evidence base practice; analytical/critical thinking insuring that care is individualized; coordinating care through effective partnerships; caring is central to achieve optimal patient care outcomes.
Providing or providing oversight for relationship based care delivery patient-centered care by partnering with the patient and significant others (as appropriate) using comprehensive hand-off communication processes; interdisciplinary evaluation and communication (i.e., unit rounds, case reviews, peer review, etc.); just in time and planned patient teaching; keeping the patient informed using appropriate communication tools and making the patients goals the focus of the plan of care.
Practicing using current clinical practice standards with a focus on safety and quality.
Rounding on patients in a modified method in conjunction with nurses to focus on patient safety concerns and patient care within the Emergency Department Setting.
Communicating with nurse manager and/or assistant nurse manager any needs or concerns pertaining to care delivery or employee performance.
Coordinating the delivery and documentation of safe quality patient care which includes promotion of interdisciplinary communication and regular interdisciplinary planning/rounds; completion of timely documentation and promotion of a respectful, inclusive clinical environment.
Demonstrating teamwork and collaboration by practicing in a manner that is fiscally responsible and promotes the recruitment and retention of all healthcare team members.
Participating and supporting performance improvement inclusive of all stakeholders, research and research utilization to promote safe, quality patient care including initiating and/or leading such activities as well as, promoting an inter/intra-disciplinary processes and actively supports/participates in shared governance at all levels in the system.
Ensuring patient/family/staff confidentiality and corporate compliance for self (and accountability for team members) requirements including completing all required mandatory education and proficiencies.
Serving as a preceptor (or mentor) for other professional nurses (and staff or students for all disciplines) to ensure that there is a current and future qualified workforce; modeling the professional practice of nursing and creating a healthy work environment.
Promoting Evidence based practice, nursing research and performance improvement in nursing.
Participating in activities such as value analysis as part of the decision making process in evaluating patient care products.
Upholding all health care system/organizational policies and procedures and clinical competencies put forth by this job description and professional.association including legal, regulatory and accreditation requirements and standards ensuring by way of example, such goals as TJC Patient Safety Goals and WellStar Health Systems safety absolutes.
Participating in data collection, posing relevant clinical questions to advance evidence based practice.
Consulting appropriate experts and using appropriate resources, data, and evidence to address practice questions.
Performing other duties as assigned.
Complying with all Wellstar Health System policies, standards of work, and code of conduct.