Pediatric Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant - Emergency Medicine

Texas Children's Hospital•Houston, TX

About The Position

Texas Children’s Hospital is seeking a motivated Pediatric Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant to work in a pediatric emergency medicine setting. The advanced practice provider delivers developmentally and age-appropriate health maintenance for well children, episodic care for ill children, and comprehensive care for children with chronic conditions. The NP or PA practices under a delineation of clinical privileges, established guidelines, and clinical protocols, collaborating with other health care team members while taking independent and interdependent responsibility for assessment, diagnosis, and initiation of treatment and procedures. The work is performed in a manner appropriate to the ages of patients served. The provider also contributes to education, research, consultation, and evaluation of clinical practice. The role is based at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus, a community hospital designed and equipped exclusively for children. The hospital has a 24/7 pediatric emergency room and provides a range of pediatric services and facilities. Successful candidates must undergo respiratory fit testing in compliance with occupational health and safety standards.

Requirements

For Nurse Practitioners: Master’s degree in nursing.
For Nurse Practitioners: RN license from the Texas Board of Nursing or Nursing Licensure Compact.
For Nurse Practitioners: FNP, NNP, PNP-BC, WHNP-BC, CPNP-AC, or AG-ACNP certification from the Texas Board of Nursing.
For Physician Assistants: Bachelor’s degree.
For Physician Assistants: PA-Cert-Physician Assistant certification by the Texas Medical Board.

Nice To Haves

For Nurse Practitioners: PNP-AC or ENP is strongly preferred.
For Physician Assistants: Pediatric experience is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

For Nurse Practitioners: Systematically collect and evaluate health assessment data and manage a patient caseload using advanced practice knowledge and skills.
Obtain and document comprehensive health, developmental, and family histories.
Assess patients’ physical status through examinations and document findings.
Differentiate between normal and abnormal findings and document them.
Perform or recommend age-appropriate health screening procedures.
Provide health maintenance and health promotion for children of all ages.
Perform and evaluate diagnostic procedures and laboratory tests.
Analyze multiple sources of data and formulate differential diagnoses in collaboration with physicians.
Follow established delegation protocols to manage specific patient problems and develop and document plans of care collaboratively.
Evaluate patients’ responses to interventions and modify plans of care as appropriate.
Present and document patient data, impressions, and plans of care.
Communicate effectively and work to eliminate communication barriers.
Collaborate with other health care disciplines to provide comprehensive patient care.
Interview patients and families effectively and involve them in developing care plans.
Request consultation or initiate referrals for specialized care as appropriate, and communicate assessments, impressions, and plans to the health care team.
Serve as an educational resource for patients, families, the community, and health care professionals.
Apply new knowledge relevant to pediatric nursing in clinical practice and maintain professional, managerial, and technical knowledge through literature, staff development, and continuing education.
Participate in assigned department and hospital committees that promote quality nursing care and in the departmental Quality Improvement program annually.
Demonstrate NP role behaviors consistent with the development of advanced nursing practice.
For Physician Assistants: Provide medical services within the PA’s education, training, scope of practice, and delegation of the supervising physician.
Prescribe or administer medications as delegated by the supervising physician and document them in medical records.
Administer appropriate vaccines as observed by physicians and document them in medical records.
Order diagnostic tests consistent with differential diagnoses derived from gathered data.
Foster interdisciplinary collaboration to improve health care.
Establish relationships with patients and families characterized by mutual respect, empathy, and collaboration.
Undergo respiratory fit testing in compliance with occupational health and safety standards.