Nurse Extern - Medical Stepdown

UNC Health•Raleigh, NC

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Student Nurse Extern I role is part of a 10-week paid summer externship for rising senior ADN and BSN nursing students. The program provides prelicensure nursing students with immersive clinical experience to strengthen foundational nursing education, clinical judgment, nursing skills, and role socialization. Externs function as members of the patient care team within their Nursing Assistant I scope of practice, working with an RN partner and under direct supervision of a registered nurse or provider. The RN partner supports learning and helps the extern develop proficiency in nursing care activities in complex and non-complex situations. The position is assigned to UNC Rex 4 East Medical Stepdown, a 31-bed pulmonary and nephrology intermediate care unit caring for patients with lung, kidney, and heart-related illnesses or diagnoses. Unit nurses monitor and manage patients with ventilators, peritoneal dialysis, arrhythmias, and cardiac drips. The role provides routine direct and indirect patient care in a hospital, clinic, or home health setting, and offers experience intended to enhance nursing knowledge and prepare the extern for a professional nursing career. The position reports to the department’s Patient Services Manager or designated Education Leader and works under the direct supervision of an assigned RN partner.

Requirements

High school diploma or GED; a higher-level degree may satisfy this requirement.
Currently enrolled 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.
Attainment and maintenance of unit-specific competencies.
Basic computer skills.
Ability to lift and carry 40–50 pounds, including pushing or pulling patients on a bed or stretcher and lateral transfers involving up to 50 pounds of the patient’s weight.
Frequent to continuous standing and walking; role-related activities may include kneeling, bending, squatting, and performing CPR.

Responsibilities

Observe, collect, and document patient information while providing care, and promptly report significant changes in patient condition to a registered nurse or provider.
Participate in identifying and reporting patient safety issues.
Assist patients and families with admission, orientation to the hospital, clinic, or home health experience, and discharge.
Provide care and treatments outlined in the plan of care, including measuring vital signs, height, and weight; collecting specimens; 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, including cleaning work areas, 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 emergency situations.
In psychiatric settings, support reality orientation and behavior modification plans or therapy; provide informal support to patients and families; verbally de-escalate potentially aggressive patients; assist with physical management of aggressive or out-of-control patients; facilitate age-appropriate play for children; and monitor therapeutic milieu activities to help meet patients’ emotional and safety needs.