Student Nurse Extern I - Critical Care Unit Hillsborough

UNC Health • Chapel Hill, NC

1d • Onsite

About The Position

The Student Nurse Extern I position is part of a temporary externship running May 24 through July 31, 2027. The program provides prelicensure nursing students with an immersive clinical experience intended to enhance foundational nursing education and role socialization. Externs function as members of the patient care team and partner with an RN within the Nursing Assistant I scope of practice. The externship is not an extension of school clinicals; skills performed as a student under a clinical instructor’s supervision, including medication administration, assessments, documentation, and NGT or Foley insertion, are not permitted.

The position is in the Critical Care Unit, an 18-bed unit providing critical care to adult medical and surgical patients, at the UNC Hillsborough Campus. The SNE I applies concepts learned in the nursing program to provide technically skilled care and gains experience working with registered nurses. The position reports to the assigned department’s Patient Services Manager or designated Education Leader and works under the direct supervision of an assigned RN partner. The RN partner supports learning so the extern can perform nursing care activities in complex and non-complex situations.

The extern provides routine direct and indirect patient care in a hospital, clinic, or home health setting under the direct supervision of a registered nurse or provider. The posted work arrangement is onsite, temporary, full-time, 36 standard hours per week, with a rotating schedule. Pay is $18.00 per hour. The job posting describes this as a State position employed by UNC Health Care System with UNC Health benefits.

Requirements

• High school diploma or GED.
• Current enrollment in an accredited prelicensure nursing program, with anticipated graduation within 12 months of the start of the externship.
• Listed as Nursing Assistant I with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
• Basic Life Support (BLS) certification.
• Fluent verbal and written English.
• Ability to organize and prioritize assignments in the delivery of patient care.
• Attain and maintain unit-specific competencies.
• Basic computer skills.
• Ability to lift and carry 40–50 pounds; examples include pushing or pulling patients on a bed or stretcher (29 pounds of push force) and lateral transfers involving up to 50 pounds of the patient's weight.
• Frequent to continuous standing and walking.
• Ability to perform role-specific physical activities, which may include kneeling, bending, squatting, and performing CPR.

Responsibilities

• Observe, collect, and document patient information obtained while providing care, and promptly report significant changes in a patient's condition to a registered nurse or provider.
• Participate in identifying and reporting patient safety issues collaboratively.
• Assist patients and families with admission, orientation to the care setting, and discharge.
• Provide care and treatments according to the plan of care, including measuring vital signs, height, and weight; collecting specimens; skin preparations and scrubs; catheter care; capillary blood glucose checks; simple wound care; range-of-motion exercises; postural drainage; and supportive one-to-one patient and family interactions.
• Provide personal care for routine activities of daily living, including bathing, dressing, feeding, and assisting with ambulation.
• Provide indirect care, including cleaning the work area, changing linens, restocking supplies, cleaning or sterilizing instruments, transporting patients, supplies, or specimens, assisting with orientation of new employees and students, and performing routine clerical functions.
• Reinforce routine teaching provided by a registered nurse or provider and document patient understanding of instructions.
• Assist providers and other healthcare providers with routine examinations and procedures, and obtain equipment and supplies during emergency situations.
• In psychiatric settings, support reality orientation, behavior modification plans or therapy, informal support therapy, verbal de-escalation, physical management of aggressive or out-of-control patients, age-appropriate play for children, and monitoring of the therapeutic milieu for patient emotional and safety needs.
• Work with an assigned RN partner to learn and perform nursing care activities within the Nursing Assistant I scope of practice.

Benefits

• UNC Health benefits are stated as available to the employee; employees already participating in TSERS or ORP through another North Carolina agency may continue participating in those plans, if eligible.
• Free employee parking is mentioned for the Hillsborough Hospital campus.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Intern
• Education Level: High school or GED