Anesthesia OR PA

University of Iowa•Iowa City, IA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Physician Assistant in the Department of Anesthesia will perform pre-operative/and post anesthesia assessment for patients scheduled for surgery in the OR at UI Health Care Medical Center University and will assist in the education of resident physicians, medical students, and nurse anesthetist students as they rotate through the OR. The Physician Assistant will assist in research endeavors related to pre-op/pre-anesthesia assessments. They will work within an interdisciplinary team, CRNA’s, nursing, physicians, administration, and all others involved with the patient’s care. They will ensure safe, effective, quality patient care and promote UI Health Care’s educational and research missions. The Physician Assistant will exercise autonomy in medical decision-making and services provided.

Requirements

Graduation from an accredited Physician Assistants educational program.
Physician Assistants are required to comply with registration and licensure requirements as specified by the Iowa Board of Physician Assistant Examiners and hold current certification by the NCCPA.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills are required.
Contributes to a welcoming and respectful workplace environment.
Ability to prioritize workflow.

Nice To Haves

Demonstrated experience in area of clinical practice is preferred.
Ability to function with a high degree of independence in a collaborative and multidisciplinary team providing care for highly complex patients.

Responsibilities

Reviews patient records including prior anesthetics, surgical and nursing work-up, consultant work-up, and other relevant clinical notes and testing procedures.
Evaluates patient according to the standard anesthetic evaluation, understanding that this standard evaluation may evolve with time. This standard evaluation will include obtaining the patient’s medical history, airway exam, examination of heart and lungs, and other clinically indicated organ systems.
Provide postoperative management in the PACU, including assessment and treatment of pain, nausea, hemodynamic concerns, and other common postoperative conditions under established protocols and physician collaboration.
Assist with multimodal pain management strategies, including medication titration, regional anesthesia follow-up, and escalation of complex pain concerns to anesthesia faculty as appropriate.
Participate in development and implementation of standardized perioperative care pathways, quality improvement initiatives, and patient safety efforts.
Perform further evaluation as directed by the staff physician.
Assists the patient in understanding teaching materials provided for their anesthetic.
Assist the patient in interpretation of NPO instructions.
Instructs the patient regarding medications to be taken on the day of surgery, including how to manage insulin doses.
Writes orders for pre-medication for the patient in consultation with the staff physician or clinic supervisor.
Orders diagnostic tests for the patient in consultation with the staff physician.
Directs requisitions for relevant outside medical records which may include telephone calls to outside physicians, their offices or hospitals.
Communicate with other services within or outside the hospital to request further consultation or work-up with the cooperation of the staff physician.
Arranges for communication of special needs or concerns to the anesthesia team.
Assists in collecting information such as duration of workup, health status of patient, etc., for use in optimizing the function of the OR.
Make observations regarding issues that seem to dissatisfy patients or lead to inefficiency.
Assists in teaching duties of the position to substitutes and/or replacements. Also teaches pre-operative/pre-anesthesia evaluation both by example and by direct instruction to junior residents or SRNA students.
Establishes and maintains standards of collaborative interaction among peers and employees that are characterized by respect, honesty and service; assures that all unit members are held to similar standards and ethics.
Inspires and motivates others to high performance by exercising strong stewardship of University resources, setting expectations, measuring success through individual performance evaluations, and driving organizational results.
Identifies opportunities for and creates development plans that encourage employees to attend to the growth of their personal and professional capacity; engages self and staff in collective reflection of the University’s greater role in society.
Other duties as assigned.