OR Surgical Specialist- Abdominal Liver Transplant

UPMC•Pittsburgh, PA

About The Position

The OR Surgical Specialist is a Registered Nurse and member of the care delivery team, responsible for operating room duties and complex surgical procedures. The role supports the Abdominal Liver Transplant Service Line and establishes collaborative relationships with physicians, other healthcare providers, patients, and families to achieve desired outcomes throughout the continuum of care. The specialist serves as a professional nursing role model and recognized unit leader in areas such as clinical expertise, teaching, specialized nursing resources, and evidence-based practice. The role supports quality improvement, shared governance, team leadership, healthy workplace relationships, cultural awareness, and the development of students, graduate nurses, and new hires. It applies the nursing process within Relationship Based Care, communicates patient conditions effectively, maintains comprehensive documentation, and uses critical thinking to address clinical and other patient-care needs. The role leads service-line specialty teams and helps ensure cases have appropriate vendor trays, instruments, implants, and supplies; prevents use of unapproved products; and allows only approved vendors into operating room suites. It participates in the Value Analysis Team process, staff education, equipment and supply decisions, service-line supply management, and maintenance of preference cards. The specialist performs the charge nurse role and runs the OR service line in the clinician’s absence, performs the scrub role when required, serves on a department or hospital committee, and contributes to education and budget planning. The schedule is five 8-hour shifts or four 10-hour shifts. Minimum experience is four years. A BSN is preferred. The employee must complete an approved professional contribution annually and meet one of the specified nursing certification or graduate-degree pathways within one year of hire or transfer, as detailed in the posting.

Requirements

At least four years of experience.
Current Registered Nurse licensure in the state where the facility is located, or a qualifying multistate license under the Nurse Licensure Compact.
Basic Life Support (BLS) or Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR); CPR must meet AHA standards, including didactic and skills-demonstration components, within 30 days of hire.
Act 34 clearance.
Ability to establish and maintain positive, caring relationships with executives, managers, physicians, non-physician providers, ancillary and support staff, other departments, and patients and families.
Ability to work effectively in a complex environment, manage multiple or changing priorities, and work with specialized equipment.
Exemplary clinical judgment, critical thinking, analytical, and problem-solving abilities related to patient care.
Critical thinking skills to apply and lead others in applying the nursing process.
Mobility and visual-manual dexterity, and physical stamina for frequent walking, standing, lifting, and positioning patients.
Within one year of hire or transfer, obtain and maintain either a UPMC-approved nursing certification, certification from the UPMC Wolff Learning Academy Center for Nursing Excellence, or a Master’s in Nursing or DNP. If the employee has a BSN, a Master’s degree in a related field may substitute for certification.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) preferred.

Responsibilities

Serve as a professional nursing role model and recognized unit leader in clinical expertise, teaching, specialized resource nursing, and/or evidence-based practice.
Provide appropriate feedback to healthcare team members and participate in nursing peer review, including core surgical specialty team performance.
Promote changes that improve patient care quality and the unit environment; serve on and lead teams.
Demonstrate clinical assessment and analytical skills within Relationship Based Care.
Participate in unit shared governance and hospital-wide councils.
Identify opportunities for clinical quality, supply-cost management, and workplace improvement; apply evidence-based practice.
Build and maintain healthy workplace relationships, demonstrate cultural awareness, and help prevent and address horizontal violence and impairment.
Precept students, graduate nurses, and new hires; identify learning opportunities and support continuous learning among clinical staff.
Apply the nursing process to create a healing environment and communicate patient conditions, recommendations, and care changes to other providers.
Maintain comprehensive patient documentation and use critical thinking to identify clinical, social, safety, psychological, and spiritual patient-care needs.
Apply professional organization, business unit, and health-system goals to improve patient safety, quality, and patient satisfaction.
Demonstrate knowledge of the operating room environment and equipment.
Lead service-line specialty teams, potentially covering more than one specialty depending on volume and equipment complexity.
Ensure cases have appropriate vendor trays, in-house instrumentation, implants, and special products.
Prevent unapproved products from being brought into or used in the OR and promptly report such cases to the OR Nurse Manager.
Ensure that only approved vendors enter OR suites.
Participate in the Value Analysis Team process and in decisions about surgical equipment, instruments, and supplies.
Inform and educate staff about service-line equipment and other updates; educate new staff and evaluate core service-line staff.
Ensure service-line specialty supplies are ordered and appropriate par levels are maintained in coordination with Supply Chain Management.
Maintain up-to-date preference cards.
Perform the charge nurse role and run the OR service line when the clinician is absent.
Perform the scrub role if hired on or after July 1, 2023.
Belong to at least one department or hospital committee and demonstrate knowledge of department fiscal requirements.
Collaborate with healthcare professionals to develop surgical budget requirements and coordinate personnel and materials effectively.
Develop, organize, and deliver continuing-education topics and courses.
Complete an annual professional contribution selected from department, hospital, or system goals and approved by the Unit Director.