Licensed Practical Nurse, Med/Surg, Temporary

Athol Hospital•Athol, MA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Heywood Healthcare values its employees and offers competitive wages, great benefits, and generous earned time off. This is a temporary, 12-hour day/evening shift position for the Med/Surg unit. The role involves providing direct patient care, collaborating with the Registered Nurse and interdisciplinary team, and ensuring patient safety and well-being within the scope of an LPN license.

Requirements

Completed state-approved LPN education program
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
Current LPN license to practice in MA
Current American Heart Association CPR certification card

Nice To Haves

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

Responsibilities

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.
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.