RN Heart Transplant Coordinator

Cincinnati Children's

2d • $83,970 - $107,224 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Heart Transplant Program at Cincinnati Children’s provides highly specialized care to infants, children, adolescents, and young adults with complex heart disease. This role is central to the evaluation, preparation, transplantation, and lifelong management of pediatric patients and their families throughout the transplant journey. The program is the oldest pediatric heart transplant program in Ohio and is part of the Heart Institute’s integrated program connecting cardiomyopathy, heart failure, mechanical circulatory support, and transplantation. The team includes cardiothoracic surgeons, cardiologists, nurse practitioners, nurses, and other specialists. The program is approved as a designated transplant program and is a member of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). In addition to heart transplantation, the program performs approximately 1–2 pediatric lung transplants annually.

Requirements

• Current Registered Nurse license in the State of Ohio.
• 5 years nursing experience
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing or degree/experience consistent with the Registered Nurse II classification.
• Strong clinical assessment and critical-thinking skills.
• Excellent communication, organization, and care-coordination skills.
• Ability to independently prioritize multiple patients and competing clinical needs.
• Ability to collaborate effectively within a highly specialized interdisciplinary team.
• Strong patient and family education skills.
• Commitment to providing compassionate, relationship-based care to children and families experiencing complex medical conditions.

Nice To Haves

• Pediatric nursing experience.
• Experience with heart failure, cardiomyopathy, congenital heart disease, cardiac critical care, or mechanical circulatory support.
• Transplant nursing or transplant coordination experience.
• Experience caring for patients with complex chronic conditions.
• Experience with inpatient-to-outpatient care transitions.
• Experience working with adolescents and young adults with complex medical needs.
• Knowledge of transplant evaluation, organ allocation, UNOS requirements, or transplant-related regulatory standards.
• Certification in a relevant nursing specialty is encouraged.

Responsibilities

• Conduct pre-transplant interviews with patients and families and obtain comprehensive medical and social histories.
• Explain transplant evaluation requirements, eligibility criteria, and the transplant process to patients, families, physicians, and outside agencies.
• Collect, prepare, analyze, and coordinate pre-transplant clinical information.
• Collaborate with physicians, advanced practice providers, nursing, social work, financial services, and other disciplines to prepare patients and families for transplantation.
• Coordinate required testing, consultations, procedures, and other components of the transplant evaluation.
• Participate in the identification and selection of appropriate transplant candidates in accordance with Cincinnati Children’s Transplant Program and UNOS guidelines.
• Coordinate communication with third-party payers regarding medical necessity, authorization, and transplant benefits.
• Provide comprehensive education to patients and families regarding transplantation, including evaluation, waiting-list management, transplantation, medications, potential complications, follow-up, and long-term care.
• Prepare patients and families for the physical, emotional, and practical aspects of transplantation.
• Provide individualized education based on developmental needs, health literacy, family circumstances, and the complexity of the patient's condition.
• Serve as an ongoing resource for patients and families throughout the transplant journey.
• Coordinate post-discharge planning and education to ensure patients and families understand their follow-up plan and ongoing care needs.
• Compile and review post-discharge clinical data to support ongoing patient management.
• Provide direct nursing care to transplant patients in the outpatient transplant clinic.
• Perform initial assessments and provide follow-up care for transplant patients in both hospital and outpatient settings.
• Monitor patients for changes in condition, complications, symptoms, and other concerns requiring clinical intervention.
• Provide telephone consultation and follow-up to patients and families.
• Recognize patient problems and symptoms, initiate appropriate nursing interventions, and communicate concerns and recommendations to physicians, APPs, community providers, and other healthcare professionals.
• Serve as a consistent point of contact for patients and families throughout the transplant process.
• Ensure continuity of care between inpatient admissions, outpatient visits, transplant clinic appointments, and community-based care.
• Coordinate care across the transplant office, outpatient clinic, inpatient nursing units, and community outreach clinics.
• Collaborate closely with transplant physicians, nurse practitioners, nursing staff, social workers, pharmacists, financial specialists, and other members of the interdisciplinary team.
• Facilitate communication between Cincinnati Children’s and referring or community healthcare providers.
• Help patients and families navigate complex healthcare systems and overcome barriers to care.
• Independently organize and prioritize daily activities based on clinical urgency and patient needs.
• Manage multiple patients simultaneously across different stages of the transplant process, including: Patients undergoing transplant evaluation, Patients awaiting transplantation, Hospitalized transplant patients, Newly transplanted patients, Long-term transplant recipients.
• Prepare transplant summaries, clinic visit summaries, correspondence, and other clinical documentation.
• Maintain accurate and timely patient records and transplant-related data.
• Support transplant program quality, regulatory, and clinical initiatives.
• Demonstrates understanding of post-transplant/donation management including medications, complications, interventions and discharge planning.
• Coordinate the care of the transplant/living donor recipient in the outpatient setting to achieve optimal physical, social and emotional rehabilitation.
• Identifies complications and considers interventions with the transplant team.
• Coordinates/ensures discharge planning to provide for continuity of care.
• Assess recipient's compliance with medication and medical regimen and collaborates with transplant team to attain and maintain compliance.
• Collects and reviews data pertinent to recipient/donor health (and if applicable the organ function) with transplant physician.
• Communicates adjustments in patient plan of care and drug transplant therapy as ordered by medical providers.
• Arranges for consults, diagnostic testing, and hospitalization when indicated.
• Coordinates emergent evaluation of transplant recipient when indicated.
• Assists in the reporting required data to regulatory bodies.
• Participates in transplant/donation process according to specific standards.
• Shares pertinent information about the intended recipient including ABO compatibility with the transplant team.
• Facilitates admission or transfer of patient to the transplant facility.
• Notifies transplant team of pending medical and/or surgical procedure.
• Remove transplant recipient/living donor from list according to regulatory guidelines.
• Provides outcome specifics to regulatory bodies for donor family follow up.
• Monitor and coordinate care of the candidate awaiting transplantation/living donation.
• Ensures monitoring per transplant center specific standards.
• Identifies and responds to the psychosocial and economic needs of the transplant/living donor candidate during the pre-transplant/donation period.
• Exhibits ability to maintain and update candidate listing status per regulatory regulations.
• Identifies the need for candidate re-evaluation and initiates process when appropriate.
• Acts as a resource for internal and external health care providers.
• Facilitates/coordinates evaluation and listing of potential transplant/living donor candidate.
• Identifies requirements and provides oversight of the candidate evaluation process.
• Interprets serological results and their implications for transplant.
• Gathers and communicates serological results and blood type in accordance with regulatory requirements.
• Identifies possible co-morbidities and absolute and relative contraindications for potential transplant recipients/living donor candidate.
• Functions as candidate advocate by applying knowledge of growth, development, educational and cultural background during candidate/family interactions.
• Collects and evaluates medical, psychosocial and financial data for review by transplant team.
• Communicates with referring physician, other care providers, payors and transplant team members regarding the candidate status and evaluation outcome.
• Provides data to regulatory bodies for listing statistics.
• Maintains thorough, accurate, and timely electronic documentation of all patient encounters to ensure safe transitions between all transplant/donation specific phases of care.
• Communicates effectively with patients, family and multidisciplinary team members, as well as referring and primary care provider and consultants regarding patient clinical findings and plan of care within a timely manner.
• Maintains/ensures communication with patient, referring physician, payors or other health care providers throughout the transplant/donation process.
• Collaborates with nursing staff, social work and other health care providers to establish and implement patient care plan according to current standards of care.

Benefits

• Medical coverage beginning day one
• Retirement benefits, including pension and 403(b) options
• Tuition assistance and professional development opportunities
• Employee wellness programs
• Employee discounts
• Relocation assistance for eligible positions
• Clinical advancement opportunities through the Cincinnati Children’s nursing career advancement program
• Opportunities to participate in education, quality improvement, research, and professional development

What This Job Offers

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