RN, Patient Educator-Nephrology

ChenMed•Portsmouth, VA

3d•$76,732 - $109,617•Onsite

About The Position

The Patient Educator, Specialty (RN) collaborates with medical practitioners and leaders to incorporate chronic disease education into care plans for a specialized patient population. The role promotes and facilitates disease education with patients and family members to improve health outcomes and support their active involvement in care and care decisions. It also provides direct specialty nursing services as needed, in compliance with regulatory standards and applicable policies and procedures. The Patient Educator develops and delivers clinical education to increase patients’ knowledge of disease processes, improve engagement in care, and reduce hospital and emergency room admissions. This role supports all five Tidewater offices—Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News, and Hampton—and requires daily on-site work, Monday through Friday. Mileage is reimbursed.

Requirements

Valid, active RN license.
At least 3 years of dialysis experience.
Teaching or training experience; clinical or patient education experience preferred.
Basic Life Support (BLS) certification.
Fluency in spoken and written English.
Strong business acumen and acuity.
Excellent knowledge of general nursing and nursing education functions, practices, processes, procedures, techniques, and methods.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
Ability to gather, analyze, and interpret information.
Strong customer service orientation.
Ability to work across multiple centers of expertise and with stakeholders at different levels.
Ability to identify problems and recommend solutions.
Ability to establish priorities and coordinate work activities.
Detail orientation.
Ability to work effectively independently and as part of a team.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, as well as database and presentation software.
Ability and willingness to travel locally, regionally, and nationwide up to 40% of the time.
Ability to use and exercise independent judgment.

Nice To Haves

Nursing Compact license.
Experience working with geriatric patients.
Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) or similar nursing certification.

Responsibilities

Provide chronic disease education that supports quality care for a specific patient population.
Coordinate care among primary care physicians, community specialists, vendor services, and hospitals.
Monitor chronic disease program performance across multiple medical centers, identify gaps, and implement improvements in patient and quality outcomes.
Assist in developing quality-improvement and management strategies related to disease education.
Collaborate with medical center leaders and primary care physicians to assess needs and develop and implement patient education programs.
Educate patients and family members while considering cultural and religious practices, emotional barriers, motivation, physical or cognitive limitations, language barriers, and readiness to learn.
Identify opportunities to reduce fragmentation of health care.
Support informed health care decisions by ensuring patients and family members understand the patient’s health status.
Observe patients’ and family members’ ability to cope with the patient’s health status, prognosis, and outcome, and adapt communication as needed.
Promote healthy lifestyles to support patients’ overall health.
Select, adapt, and individualize patient education resources to align with patients’ age, culture, religious practices, language, and other needs.
Document patient care services in patient charts and department records in accordance with internal procedures and applicable laws and regulations.
Study, evaluate, and redesign processes to improve quality, implementing changes as needed.
Coordinate care activities with transitional care and case management teams to reduce hospitalizations and lengths of stay.
Build trusting relationships with internal and external stakeholders to identify opportunities and develop remediation strategies.
Perform other duties as assigned or modified at the manager’s discretion.