Critical Care APP (NP or PA) – Surgical ICU (SICU)

Vanderbilt University Medical Center•Nashville, TN

About The Position

Discover Vanderbilt University Medical Center : Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health is committed to an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your uniqueness is sought and celebrated. It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt’s mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research. Organization: VUH Advanced Practice Provider Job Summary: The SICU Critical Care Nurse Practitioner (NP) works in collaboration with a multidisciplinary health care team. The Critical Care NP or Critical Care PA provides healthcare in critical care settings, including Surgical ICU. The NP has didactic education, clinical competency and national certification in identified area of clinical practice. The NP demonstrates medical knowledge, clinical judgment, technical competence, professionalism, interpersonal communication skills, timely and compliant documentation, and is responsible for professional development and competency validation. The NP has an advanced knowledge of nursing theory and application. About the Role Vanderbilt University Medical Center is seeking a Critical Care Advanced Practice Provider (NP or PA) to join our Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) team. The SICU cares for critically ill adults recovering from complex surgical procedures, including trauma, liver transplant, vascular surgery, emergency general surgery, thoracic surgery, surgical oncology, orthopedics, and obstetric surgical cases. As an Advanced Practice Provider (APP) in our Surgical ICU, you will provide comprehensive assessment, clinical decision‑making, bedside procedures, and ongoing management of critically ill surgical patients.

Requirements

NP: Adult‑Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (AGACNP) or Acute Care NP (ACNP).
PA: Graduation from ARC‑PA accredited program + national certification.
Current Tennessee licensure (or eligibility).

Nice To Haves

1+ year experience as an AGACNP, ACNP, or Physician Assistant in a Surgical ICU (SICU) or Critical Care environment.

Responsibilities

Perform comprehensive assessments and daily evaluations of SICU patients.
Order, interpret, and act on diagnostic tests in collaboration with the multidisciplinary Critical Care team.
Manage acute and complex postoperative conditions within a high‑acuity ICU setting.
Perform bedside procedures appropriate to APP training/scope.
Collaborate with intensivists, surgeons, residents, pharmacists, and nursing teams.
Participate in SICU quality improvement, evidence‑based practice, and continuing clinical education.
Obtains and documents a health history; performs and documents complete, system-focused, or symptom-specific physical examination, assessment and plan of care.
In collaboration, provides healthcare services for primary, acute and complex care of patients and manages patient's overall care, identifying expected outcomes for diagnoses.
Orders, performs, interprets and collects data using appropriate assessment techniques, relevant supporting diagnostic information and diagnostic procedures where indicated.
Forms differential diagnoses and treats acute and chronic conditions.
Prescribes therapeutic interventions both pharmacologic, non-pharmacologic and surgical, needed to achieve expected outcomes.
Utilizes evidence-based, approved practice protocols in planning and implementing care; Initiates appropriate referrals and consultations; Provides specialty specific consultation services upon request and within specialty scope of practice; Facilitates the patient’s transition between and within health care settings, such as admitting, transferring, and discharging patients.
Provides specialty specific consultation services upon request and within specialty scope of practice;
Facilitates the patient’s transition between and within health care settings, such as admitting, transferring, and discharging patients.
Demonstrates behaviors that reflect a commitment to continuous professional development, ethical practice, and a responsible attitude toward their patients, their profession and society.
Participates in medical center committees, professional organizations and activities that influence advanced practice.
Demonstrates interpersonal and communication skills that enable them to establish and maintain professional relationships with patients, families, and other members of health care teams.
Communicates practice knowledge effectively both orally and in writing.
Demonstrates the use of scientific evidence and methods to investigate, evaluate and improve patient care practices.
Anticipates variations in practice and is proactive in implementing interventions to improve quality.
Uses best available evidence to continuously improve quality of clinical practice.
Generates knowledge from clinical practice to improve practice and patient outcomes.
Reviews data and evidences to improve advanced practice.
Integrates knowledge from the humanities and sciences within the context of nursing science.
Demonstrates care that is compassionate, appropriate and effective for the promotion of health, prevention of illness, treatment of disease and care at the end of life.
Within scope of licensure and certification, manages previously diagnosed and undiagnosed patients.
Uses health assessment skills to differentiate between normal, variations of normal, and abnormal findings.
Employs screening and diagnostic strategies in the development of diagnoses.
Prescribes medications within scope of practice.
Manages health/illness status of patients and families over time and across the continuum.
Provides patient-centered care recognizing the patient or designee as a full partner in decision making.
Creates a climate of patient-centered care to include confidentiality privacy, comfort, emotional support, mutual trust, and respect.
Incorporates cultural and spiritual preferences, values and beliefs into health care.
Preserves the patient's control over decision making by negotiating a mutually acceptable plan of care.
Integrates ethical principles into decision making.
Uses electronic health record to capture data on variables for the evaluation and management of patient care.
Clearly documents findings, assessment and plan of care.
Demonstrates established and evolving biomedical, clinical and social sciences, and the application of their knowledge to patient care and the education of others.
Demonstrates knowledge of population focus but also other sciences that support his/her field of practice.
Demonstrates knowledge of common and important health issues affecting society and other societies around the globe.
Demonstrates commitment in maintaining current evidence based knowledge through continuous learning.
Educates patients, families, students and other members of the healthcare team in clinical topics and application of clinical knowledge.
Demonstrates sufficient fundamental proficiency in behaviors that reflect a commitment to continuous professional development, ethical practice, and a responsible attitude toward their patients, their profession and society.
Participates in professional organizations and activities that influence advanced practice.
Executes job responsibilities with the understanding of how output would affect and impact other areas related to own job area/team with occasional guidance.
Analyzes moderately complex problems using technical experience and judgment.
Has expanded knowledge gained through experience within a professional area.
Provides informal guidance and support to team members.
Develops Self and Others: Invests time, energy, and enthusiasm in developing self/others to help improve performance e and gain knowledge in new areas.
Builds and Maintains Relationships: Maintains regular contact with key colleagues and stakeholders using formal and informal opportunities to expand and strengthen relationships.
Communicates Effectively: Recognizes group interactions and modifies one's own communication style to suit different situations and audiences.
Serves Others with Compassion: Seeks to understand current and future needs of relevant stakeholders and customizes services to better address them.
Solves Complex Problems: Approaches problems from different angles; Identifies new possibilities to interpret opportunities and develop concrete solutions.
Offers Meaningful Advice and Support: Provides ongoing support and coaching in a constructive manner to increase employees' effectiveness.
Performs Excellent Work: Engages regularly in formal and informal dialogue about quality; directly addresses quality issues promptly.
Ensures Continuous Improvement: Applies various learning experiences by looking beyond symptoms to uncover underlying causes of problems and identifies ways to resolve them.
Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements: Understands all aspects of providing a safe environment and performs routine safety checks to prevent safety hazards from occurring.
Demonstrates Accountability: Demonstrates a sense of ownership, focusing on and driving critical issues to closure.
Stewards Organizational Resources: Applies understanding of the departmental work to effectively manage resources for a department/area.
Makes Data Driven Decisions: Demonstrates strong understanding of the information or data to identify and elevate opportunities.
Generates New Ideas: Proactively identifies new ideas/opportunities from multiple sources or methods to improve processes beyond conventional approaches.
Applies Technology: Demonstrates an enthusiasm for learning new technologies, tools, and procedures to address short-term challenges.
Adapts to Change: Views difficult situations and/or problems as opportunities for improvement; actively embraces change instead of emphasizing negative elements.