Respiratory Clinical Education Specialist - NCH - Days

Nevada System of Higher Education • Arlington Heights, IL

6d • $35 - $55 • Onsite

About The Position

The Respiratory Clinical Education Specialist serves as a specialty area expert for respiratory care services, providing direction in collaboration with multidisciplinary caregivers. This role oversees the development of respiratory care policies and procedures, plans and implements educational programs to ensure compliance, and acts as an expert clinical resource for the Respiratory Care staff. The specialist stays informed about regulatory guidelines, new standards of care, medical products, equipment, and technology, and develops competency testing and educational programs accordingly. The position involves administering various forms of respiratory therapy, understanding the indications, contraindications, hazards, and adverse reactions of each therapy mode, and providing intensive respiratory care with advanced techniques and specialized equipment. This includes airway management during CPR, performing external cardiac massage if necessary, performing arterial punctures for blood gas analysis, and explaining procedures to patients, families, and hospital personnel. The specialist also develops and delivers home care instructions, performs patient assessments, evaluates care, and confers with nurses and physicians to optimize patient care. Additionally, the role involves planning and conducting competency-based education programs, assessing ongoing educational needs, assisting in the development and testing of employee competencies, and coordinating and evaluating the orientation of new employees. Recommendations for individual education plans, clinical experiences, skill testing, advanced certifications, and regulatory requirements are made. The specialist collaborates with management to identify QI focus and criteria, collects and analyzes QI data, develops action plans, and incorporates research techniques into education planning. Close collaboration with physicians and nursing staff is expected to improve services, initiate protocols, and monitor quality, with a focus on general adult and critical care services. The specialist also performs all duties of a Respiratory Care Practitioner as required and demonstrates the knowledge and skills to assess and treat all age groups, involving families in the plan of care and conducting patient family education considering developmental needs.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in a related field, required.
• Current Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) certification required.
• CPR certification through American Heart Association, required.
• Minimum three years’ experience in respiratory therapy required.
• Advanced knowledge of acid-base balance, blood gas analysis and interpretation, and cardiopulmonary physiology.
• Current Illinois Respiratory Care Practitioner licensure, required.

Responsibilities

• Serves as a specialty area expert to staff and patients for respiratory care services; provides direction for services in collaboration with multidisciplinary caregivers.
• Oversees respiratory care policy and procedure development related to the respiratory patient care; plans and implements educational programs and based on policies and procedures to ensure compliance.
• Serves as expert clinical resource for Respiratory Care staff for all aspects of Respiratory Care services.
• Maintains awareness of regulatory guidelines, new standards of care, medical products, equipment and technology.
• Develops competency testing and educational programs accordingly.
• Administers all forms of respiratory therapy including medical gases, medication delivery via the airways, chest physical therapy, pressure breathing treatments, breathing retraining, aerosol and humidity therapy.
• Understands the equipment, indications, contraindications, hazards, and adverse reactions of each mode of therapy.
• Provides intensive respiratory care utilizing advanced techniques and specialized equipment; establishes and maintains an airway during CPR; performs external cardiac massage if necessary.
• Performs arterial punctures to obtain blood gas samples, blood gas analysis, and related calculations; performs blood gas lab quality control.
• Explains purpose and procedure of treatments, tests, and equipment to patient, family, and hospital personnel; develops and delivers home care instructions to patients.
• Performs patient assessment and evaluation of care; confers with nurses and physicians to optimize the care of the patient.
• Initiates and maintains the appropriate records in the patient chart and on respiratory care records.
• Plans and conducts competency-based education programs in relation to individual staff needs and/or process improvement activities.
• Assesses ongoing educational needs of staff to plan education programs for the year.
• Assists in development of specific competencies to be tested annually and tests employees as required.
• Coordinates and evaluates orientation of new employees, documents progress of orientation, and provides feedback throughout the orientation period.
• Makes recommendations for individual education plans, clinical experiences, skill testing, advanced certifications and regulatory requirements.
• Collaborates with the manager and the team to identify QI focus and criteria.
• Collects and analyzes monthly QI data; develops action plans to resolve problems.
• Incorporates research techniques and data analysis into education planning.
• Works closely with physicians and nursing staff to improve services; initiates protocols and monitors quality with a focus on general adult and critical care services.
• Performs all duties of a Respiratory Care Practitioner as required.
• Demonstrates the knowledge and skills necessary to assess and treat all age groups of patients from neonatal to geriatric; implements assessment/treatment based on the developmental stages of the patient.
• Involves family/guardian in plan of care and conducts patient family education, as appropriate, considering the developmental needs of the patient.
• Adheres to all Northwest Community Hospital standards, policies, and procedures.

Benefits

• Eligibility for our Annual Incentive Plan, which offers the potential to earn a certain percentage amount of your base salary based on organizational performance. (For AIP eligible positions)
• Premium pay such as shift, on call, holiday and more based on an employee’s job (For eligible positions)
• Incentive pay for select positions
• Opportunity for annual increases based on performance
• Career Pathways to Promote Professional Growth and Development
• Various Medical, Dental, Pet and Vision options
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Free Parking
• Wellness Program Savings Plan
• Health Savings Account Options
• Retirement Options with Company Match
• Paid Time Off and Holiday Pay
• Community Involvement Opportunities

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior