Registered Nurse- Acute Rehab

Kaweah Delta Health Care District•Visalia, CA

17h

About The Position

Kaweah Health is a publicly owned community healthcare organization serving the greater Visalia area in central California. The Registered Nurse in Acute Rehab protects and promotes health, prevents illness and injury, and alleviates suffering through nursing diagnosis and treatment. The nurse demonstrates leadership in the professional practice setting by overseeing the interdisciplinary healthcare team, providing holistic care, and advocating for patients and families. The nurse’s practice is guided by the Code of Ethics and Kaweah Health’s values. The position uses the nursing process, applies quality-improvement findings to nursing practice, and collaborates with patients, families, and healthcare providers to plan and coordinate care. The job description also includes team-leader responsibilities and additional duties for infusion-center or wound-center assignments, if assigned.

Requirements

Current California Registered Nurse (RN) license.
Basic Life Support (BLS) certification.
Demonstrated knowledge and skills to provide care and services appropriate to the population served on the assigned unit or work area.
Ability to communicate effectively and care for patients and families in accordance with the Plan for Provision of Care.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), or current enrollment in an RN-BSN program.

Responsibilities

Follow the nursing Code of Ethics and demonstrate professional, respectful, and nondiscriminatory conduct while protecting patient confidentiality, autonomy, dignity, and rights.
Identify high-risk patients and initiate appropriate interventions, including referrals to ancillary departments.
Advocate for patients and residents and help them develop skills to advocate for themselves.
Use the nursing process, including assessment, diagnosis, planning, outcome identification, implementation, and evaluation.
Collect clinical data and use quality and performance-improvement results to monitor care and recommend improvements to nursing practice and patient outcomes.
Assist with developing and implementing policies, procedures, and practice guidelines; participate in interdisciplinary teams, quality-improvement studies, task forces, and committees; and share findings from studies and audits.
Collaborate and communicate with patients, families, and healthcare providers; monitor documentation for appropriate referrals; formulate plans of care with patient involvement; and arrange referrals and continuity of care as needed.
As team leader, serve as a clinical resource and role model, mentor staff, support preceptors and new employees, provide staff guidance, contribute input to employee evaluations, and act as the Nurse Manager’s representative when the manager is absent.
As team leader, make and adjust staff assignments based on staff abilities and patient needs; coordinate admissions and transfers; ensure timely shift reports and adequate break coverage; and communicate staffing needs for the next shift.
As team leader, assign staff to complete equipment checks, coordinate care during high-risk or emergency situations, keep leadership informed of critical patients and unit issues, and promote collaboration and communication across the care team.
As team leader, ensure patient-care issues are documented and reported, use the chain of command, identify counseling needs for the Nurse Manager, provide patient care as needed, and make fiscally responsible staffing and supply decisions.
If assigned to the Infusion Center, assign patients to chairs and initiate intake; educate patients; start peripheral IVs or access central venous access devices; administer ordered infusions and other treatments; monitor vital signs and patient status; complete medication reconciliation and patient histories; document care; remove IVs; and provide discharge instructions.
If assigned to the Infusion Center, maintain competency in IV therapy, infusion pumps, and emergency response; provide telephone triage; and educate patients about side effects, symptom management, and resources.
If assigned to the Wound Center, coordinate care with physicians, nurses, and Wound Center staff; manage assigned patients’ care plans; educate patients and families; and function with appropriate autonomy in wound and hyperbaric settings.
If assigned to the Wound Center, serve as a nursing-practice resource, facilitate staff development and education, assist with maintaining policies and procedures, meet continuing-education requirements, participate in hyperbaric-related organizations, and complete required Healogics training and competency assessments.
If assigned to the Wound Center, follow Healogics clinical policies, procedures, documentation standards, workflows, quality measures, performance expectations, and operational requirements.
Provide care appropriate to the population served, taking into account patients’ and families’ cultural, linguistic, spiritual, gender, age, growth, and developmental needs.
Perform other duties as assigned.