Resource Nurse

Phelps Health

1d•Onsite

About The Position

A resource nurse is an experienced RN who acts as a clinical expert, mentor, and support system for other nurses, provides hands-on help, guidance, and education to floor staff, often filling in where needed for complex cases, admissions, or emergencies, and ensures adherence to best practices and policies. Their role varies but centers on supporting teams and improving patient care through real-time problem-solving and training, rather than solely focusing on administrative tasks like a traditional charge nurse

Requirements

Graduate from an accredited school of nursing required.
Minimum of 5 years of clinical nursing experience, with at least 2 years of experience in critical care preferred.
Current RN license in the State of Missouri or Compact Licensure.
American Heart Association Basic Life Support.
American Heart Association Advanced Cardiac Life Support
National Institute of Health Stroke Scale NIHSS
American Heart Association Pediatric Advanced Life Support
Ultrasound IV course completion and competency
Considerable mental concentration is required.
Lifting up to 35 lbs., turning activities and nearly constant walking are required.
Standing, turning, carrying, pushing, pulling, stooping, crouching, twisting, and reaching.
Frequent exposure to infectious diseases and hostile persons at times.
Frequent exposure to communicable diseases via blood and other body fluids.
Minimal physical discomfort.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing preferred.

Responsibilities

Assists with complex patient care, advanced IV insertion, draws labs, responds to codes/emergencies, and helps manage unstable patients.
Actively monitors for early signs of patient deterioration through bedside assessment, review of vital signs, labs, telemetry, and clinical trends; initiates timely intervention, quick response activation, and provider notification.
Help train new nurses, provide informal leadership, offer advice on difficult situations, and reinforce evidence-based practices.
Coaches and supports bedside nurses in recognizing subtle changes in patient condition, prioritizing interventions, and escalating concerns using appropriate communication tools.
Helps with staffing, patient assignments, and ensuring smooth unit operations, especially during busy times or shortages.
Ensures adherence to hospital protocols, assists with policy implementation, and promotes high-quality, patient-centered care.
Acts as a link between frontline staff and clinical leadership, facilitating communication and care transitions.
Will assist with patient movement throughout care transitions, including completing admission assessments, stabilizing ill patients, ensuring appropriate monitoring levels, and supporting safe transfers to higher or lower levels of care, with accurate documentation.
Perform routine site care, dressing changes, and troubleshooting of VAD-related complications (e.g., occlusions, phlebitis, infiltration, infection).
Follows established hospital policy regarding patient safety measures such as infection prevention, safe patient handling and movement, critical lab notification, etc. to provide patient care in an optimally safe environment.
Maintains and cares for central lines and prevents surgical site infections per policy.
Communicates patient information to physicians and appropriate team members to improve patient outcomes.
Delegates as appropriate while maintaining an atmosphere fostering teamwork and accountability.