Registered Nurse Jobs

About The Position

Requirements

• Graduation from an accredited school of nursing.
• Current Alabama RN license or current Multi-State RN License in accordance with the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) for Alabama.
• Ability to work the defined schedule, overtime, and call as required.
• Ability to be available in the hospital within 30–45 minutes of call.

Responsibilities

• Provide family-centered nursing care in accordance with policies and the Nurse Practice Act.
• Serve as Charge Nurse when assigned and supervise, plan, evaluate, and coordinate patient care provided by licensed and non-licensed staff.
• Demonstrate CPR according to American Heart Association standards and provide basic life support and management of arrest situations.
• Follow compliance requirements, organizational values, hospital policies, confidentiality requirements, infection control standards, and safety standards.
• Precept new employees and nursing students.
• Be available in the hospital within 30–45 minutes of call.
• Use the nursing process to assess patients, plan individualized care, identify expected outcomes, and implement and evaluate nursing interventions.
• Provide direct patient care in accordance with unit-specific competencies, including therapeutic and diagnostic procedures, medication administration, IV starts, and activities of daily living.
• Respond appropriately to emergency patient situations and perform skilled procedures safely.
• Use proper body mechanics when moving, positioning, or transferring patients and equipment.
• Participate in patient and family teaching and document the teaching.
• Use a personal computer or terminal to access the Hospital Information System.
• Communicate effectively and use appropriate customer-relations skills with physicians, patients, families, and the healthcare team in person and by telephone; respond to overhead pages.
• Maintain accurate and complete medical records, complete peri-operative assessments within unit time frames, and document patient charges accurately.
• Complete assigned duties positively, cooperate with others, support unit performance, complete mandatory requirements, and use cost-effective practices.
• Accept reassignment to other areas of Surgical Services and perform related duties as required.
• Provide competent care to neonates, infants and toddlers/preschoolers, school-age children and adolescents, people of reproductive age, and post/peri-menopausal patients.
• Manage peri-operative patients using aseptic principles and initiate corrective action when aseptic practice is interrupted.
• Use technically advanced equipment, participate in evaluation of new products, and maintain supplies needed for procedures.
• Care for specimens and cultures according to policies and procedures.
• Perform scrub and circulating duties, establish and maintain the sterile field, and maintain unit-specific quality-control logs.
• Inspect sterile items for contamination and expiration before opening.
• Accompany patients to PACU and provide appropriate handoff communication.
• Monitor and maintain the peri-operative environment, including temperature, traffic, and aseptic technique.
• Perform sponge and sharp counts, take corrective action when counts are incorrect, and communicate and document count results according to facility policy.
• Monitor medication labeling on the sterile field and ensure accurate mixing and dosing.
• Use two patient identifiers when transporting or transferring patients, labeling specimens, and administering medications.
• Participate in unit activities related to National Patient Safety Goals, including thromboembolism prevention, pre-operative antibiotic administration, beta blocker administration, Universal Protocol, and sterile-field medication labeling.
• Apply patient-safety practices involving fall prevention, positioning, transfers, surgical-site identification, electrosurgical safety, laser safety, operating-room fire prevention, and recognition of malignant hyperpyrexia signs and symptoms.
• Pull cases using the surgeon preference card, ensure required supplies are available and in date, and ensure cases are appropriately set up before the patient enters the room.
• Participate in unit educational activities, including role-playing and return demonstrations.
• Use downtime between cases to support unit cleanliness, appropriate stock levels, and extra-duty assignments.
• Complete vendor notification forms for implant tracking and participate in unit recycling and reprocessing activities.
• Ensure required medical-record items are present and reviewed before patient transfer to the OR, including pre-operative orders, updated H&P signature, consults, labs, consent, and applicable Medicaid tubal/hysterectomy consents.
• Identify, organize, and direct activities to use resources, personnel, and materials to meet patient and nursing-staff needs.
• Communicate ongoing unit-status, patient, staffing, quality-management, and other issues to the Nurse Manager and Nurse Administrator.
• Act as the first line of problem resolution with other departments and for patient complaints.
• Assist with shift-duty assignments or serve as staff nurse as needed.
• Verify that emergency equipment is functional.
• Participate in committees and Performance Improvement activities as assigned.
• Access and accurately maintain electronic and paper medical records.
• Maintain regular and prompt attendance and work the defined schedule, including overtime and call as required.