Nurse Extern - Postpartum

UNC Health • Chapel Hill, NC

1d • Onsite

About The Position

The Student Nurse Extern I (SNE I) position is for prelicensure nursing students enrolled in an accredited School of Nursing. The extern works as a member of the patient care team and partners with an RN within the Nursing Assistant I scope of practice. The externship is an immersive clinical experience intended to enhance foundational nursing education and role socialization; it is not an extension of school clinicals. Skills performed as a student under a clinical instructor’s supervision, including medication administration, assessment, documentation, and NGT or Foley insertion, are not permitted in the extern role.

The extern applies concepts learned in their nursing program while providing routine direct and indirect patient care in a hospital, clinic, or home health setting. All work is under the direct supervision of a registered nurse or provider. The assigned RN partner supports learning and development of care skills in complex and non-complex situations. This position is based in a 28-bed mother/baby unit providing low- and high-risk postpartum care, including care for vaginal and cesarean births, late preterm and normal newborns, breastfeeding, and family teaching. The unit provides couplet care and family-centered services such as rooming-in, sibling visitation, and lactation consultant rounds.

The extern reports to the assigned department’s Patient Services Manager or designated Education Leader and works under the direct supervision of an assigned RN partner. The program runs May 24 through July 31, 2027. This is a temporary, full-time onsite position with a variable schedule and 36 standard hours per week. The hiring range is $18.00–$24.66 per hour.

Requirements

• High school diploma or GED; a higher-level degree may satisfy this requirement.
• Current enrollment in an accredited prelicensure nursing program, with anticipated graduation within 12 months of the start of the externship.
• Listed as Nursing Assistant I with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
• Basic Life Support (BLS) certification.
• Fluent in verbal and written English.
• Ability to organize and prioritize assignments in the delivery of patient care.
• Basic computer skills.
• Ability to lift and carry 40–50 pounds, including pushing or pulling patients on a bed or stretcher and assisting with lateral transfers.
• Frequent to continuous standing and walking.
• Ability to perform role-specific activities such as kneeling, bending, squatting, and CPR when required.

Responsibilities

• Observe, collect, and document patient information obtained while providing care, and promptly report significant changes in a patient's condition to a registered nurse or provider.
• Participate in the collaborative identification and reporting of patient safety issues.
• Assist patients and families with admission, orientation to the care setting, and discharge.
• Provide treatments and care outlined in the plan of care, including measuring vital signs, height, and weight; specimen collection; skin preparation; catheter care; capillary blood glucose checks; simple wound care; range-of-motion exercises; postural drainage; and supportive one-to-one interactions with patients and families.
• Provide personal care for routine activities of daily living, including bathing, dressing, feeding, and assisting with ambulation.
• Provide indirect care by cleaning the work area, changing linens, restocking supplies, cleaning or sterilizing instruments, transporting patients, supplies, or specimens, assisting with orientation of new employees and students, and performing routine clerical functions.
• Reinforce routine teaching provided by a registered nurse or provider and document patient understanding of instructions.
• Assist providers and other healthcare professionals with routine examinations and procedures, and obtain equipment and supplies during emergencies.
• In psychiatric settings, support reality orientation, behavior modification plans or therapy, informal support therapy, verbal de-escalation, physical management of aggressive or out-of-control patients, age-appropriate play for children, and monitoring of therapeutic milieu activities to support patient emotional and safety needs.
• Attain and maintain unit-specific competencies.

Benefits

• UNC Health benefits are mentioned; specific benefit plans are not detailed.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: High school or GED