Physician Assistant for Emergency General Surgery

Tucson Medical Center is seeking an acute care nurse practitioner or physician assistant to join our Emergency General Surgery program. In this role, you will collaborate with a team of general surgeons to perform a wide variety of procedures, ranging from minor skin lesion excisions and cyst removals to complex gallbladder and hernia surgeries, as well as colectomies.

Responsibilities include pre- and post-operative rounding on units, scheduling cases in the OR, and ensuring the post-operative clinic operates efficiently. The position offers a schedule of four 10-hour shifts per week, including two weekend days per month. While most duties are inpatient, you will work in the clinic every other Wednesday.

Summary:

In collaboration with a physician, provides comprehensive assessment of patient's health status, evaluates assessment data, and makes treatment decisions.

Essential Functions:

• Initiates patient admissions and collects health, illness psychosocial, and family history from patients; provides initial care of emergencies.
• Performs physical examinations, and orders appropriate diagnostic tests.
• Records patient's health information, performs periodic health evaluations, and establishes/records care plans; evaluates care plans, monitors and records progress, and makes modifications accordingly.
• Determines normal and abnormal findings on patient history, physical examination, diagnostic tests; initiates referral and consultation when appropriate.
• Consults and collaborates with members of the health care team in the assessment and management of health care problems; functions as a liaison between physicians, nursing, technologists and area support staff.
• Prescribes, regulates, and adjusts medications including over the counter medications and treatments.
• Provides teaching and counseling aimed at prevention of illness and modification of risk factors to health, and maintenance of high-level wellness; instructs and supervises students and hospital personnel in methods and theories of diagnostic testing.
• Assumes responsibility for the on-going therapeutic management of stable long-term health problems in the chronically ill.
• Completes patient discharge summary.
• Assists in the development, implementation, and revision of nursing protocols and standards of care.
• Provides IT skills and familiarity, by using the basic functionality of the computer, Word, Excel, Outlook e-mail and attachment capabilities.
• Maintains compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Performs other evaluative and supportive duties, due to the advanced nature of training and the Licensed Independent Practitioner (LIP) status, as needed.
• Researches and provides advice on patient care processes, nursing processes, and larger-scale quality improvement projects.
• Adheres to and supports team members in exhibiting TMCH values of integrity, community, compassion, and dedication.
• Adheres to TMCH organizational and department-specific safety and confidentiality policies and standards.
• Performs related duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

• EDUCATION: Master's degree in Nursing or related area, or an equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.
• EXPERIENCE: Five (5) years of related experience, preferably in an acute care setting. RN experience applies, new grad acute care nurse practitioners are encouraged to apply along with experienced candidates!
• LICENSURE OR CERTIFICATION: National certification as a Nurse Practitioner or must be National Certification as a Nurse Practitioner eligible, must become credentialed at TMC through the Professional Staffing Office prior to appointment. Must have and maintain a current Arizona state license as a Registered Nurse and Nurse Practitioner including prescriptive authority. Must obtain and maintain a current Federal Drug Enforcement Agency License for prescribing controlled substances. Must obtain and maintain current certification in Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS); for Mental Health only Crisis Prevention Instruction (CPI) required.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Knowledge of nursing care and assessment best practices.
• Knowledge of regulations and policies as it relates to patient evaluation, care and information.
• Skill in evaluating comprehensive health assessments and evaluating results to ensure the most appropriate treatment option.
• Skill in providing the best practice patient care.
• Ability to read, analyze, and interpret professional journals, technical procedures, or governmental regulations.
• Ability to write reports, correspondence, and procedure protocols.
• Ability to effectively present information and respond to inquiries or complaints from patients and/or their representatives, and the general public.
• Ability to work with concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions, and to apply mathematical operations to solve or analyze job-related situations.
• Ability to identify positive or negative variances from expected outcomes.
• Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists.
• Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.