Title: Registered Nurse – System Float Pool

FLSA Status: Non-Exempt

Job Code: 5300DM

Revision Date:  March 2021

Department:

Our Mission:  Provide quality care and services that will improve the health of those we serve.

Our Vision:  To be one of the best health care providers in our region and consistently strive to provide clinical and service excellence.

Our Values: 

·         Integrity:  Be consistent, honest, and fair in everything we do.

·         Excellence:  Exceed the standards in service, clinical, and financial performance.

·         Innovation:  Promote creativity to enhance patient care and hospital performance through a team environment.

·         Accountability:  Take responsibility and ownership for our actions and their outcomes.

·         Compassion:  Be aware of the needs of others.

·         Safety:  Eliminate or minimize potential harm to patients, visitors, physicians, and employees.

·         Equality: The guarantee of fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all races, nationalities, religions, gender, or age

The Employee Promise:  As an employee, I am committed to doing my part to fulfill the mission, vision, and values of Decatur Morgan Hospital and the Huntsville Hospital Health System.  I will provide my patients, guests, coworkers, physicians, and customers with the highest quality of service and ensure their needs are met with the utmost courtesy and respect.  This commitment must be reflected in my behavior.

Job Summary:

 While demonstrating through behavior Decatur Morgan Hospital’s mission, vision and values, the Registered Nurse serves as a leader of the healthcare team at Decatur Morgan Hospital and the Huntsville Hospital Health System by establishing an authentic personalized relationship with the patient and their chosen support system, collaborating with physicians and other team members to assess, plan, implement and evaluate an individualized plan of care that promotes optimal health or supports a peaceful death.  The RN utilizes the best scientific evidence and compassion to assist the patient in navigating their health journey.  The RN accepts responsibility, authority and accountability for management and provision of care in accordance with the current policies and procedures.

Minimum Knowledge, Skills, Experience Required:

·         Uses common sense and special medical skills to care for the sick

·         Understands technical information from supervisors, charts, reference books,  manuals and labels

·         Uses eyes, ears, hands and fingers with skill

·         Acts quickly in an emergency, rendering appropriate life-saving measures

·         Communicates with people

·         Change from one duty to another frequently

·         Follow and/or give precise instructions

·         Records and interprets information accurately

·         Able to care for patients of all ages

·         Current in BLS

Reasoning, Mathematical and Language Development are indicative of the general level of development required to do this job.  Some, but not necessarily all, areas mentioned in this section will be included in this job.

Reasoning Development:                                

Apply principles of logical or scientific thinking to define problems, collect data, establish facts and draw valid conclusions.  Deals with several abstract and concrete variables.

Mathematical Development:

Practical application of fractions, percentages, ratio and proportion in addition to basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division abilities.

Language Development:         

Reading: Read scientific and technical journals, abstracts, and financial reports.  Records data via paper and electronic means. 

Speaking:

Communicates verbally using effective voice tone, diction and medical terminology.

RELATIONSHIPS TO DATA, PEOPLE AND THINGS:

Data:                           

Gathers, complies and classifies information about patients and other people.  Analyzes and interprets data to carry out plan of care for the patient.

People:                       

Speaking, hearing, talking with people to convey or exchange information.  Includes giving directions to staff, patients, families and/or visitors.

Things:                                      

                                 Manual dexterity: Use of body members or special devices to work, and perform functions pertinent to accomplishment of job assignment.

Education:  Graduate of an accredited school of nursing.  Possesses a nursing license in good standing in the State of Alabama. BSN preferred but not required.

Experience: Acute care experience - 5 years preferred, 3 years required.

Key Responsibilities / Essential Functions

1. Caregiver:  The caregiver role has traditionally included those activities that assist the patient’s physical and psychologically while preserving the patient’s dignity.  Caregiving encompasses the physical, psychosocial, developmental, cultural and spiritual needs of the patient.
2. Communicator: Communication is an integral to all nursing roles. Nurses communicate with the patient, support persons, other health professionals, and people in the community. In the role of communicator, nurses identify patient problems and then communicate these verbally or in writing to other members of the health team. The quality of a nurse’s communication is an important factor in nursing care.
3. Teacher: As a teacher, the nurse helps patients learn about their health and the health care procedures they need to perform to restore or maintain their health. The nurse assesses the patient’s learning needs and readiness to learn, sets specific learning goals in conjunction with the patient, enacts teaching strategies and measures learning.
4. Patient Advocate:  Patient advocate acts to protect the patient.  In this role the nurse may represent the patient’s needs and wishes to other health professionals, such as relaying the patient’s wishes for information to the physician. They also assist patients in exercising their rights and help them speak up for themselves.
5. Counselor:  Counseling is a process of helping a patient to recognize and cope with stressful psychological or social problems, to develop improved interpersonal relationships, and to promote personal growth. It involves providing emotional, intellectual, and psychological support.
6. Change Agent:  The nurse acts as a change agent when assisting others, that is, patients, to make modifications in their own behavior. Nurses also often act to make changes in a system such as clinical care.
7. Leader:  A leader influences others to work together to accomplish a specific goal. The leader role can be employed at different levels; individual patient, family, groups of patients, colleagues, or the community. Effective leadership is a learned process requiring an understanding of the needs and goals that motivate people, the knowledge to apply the leadership skills, and the interpersonal skills to influence others.
8. Research consumer – nurses often use research to improve patient care. In a clinical area nurses need to: 

a.     Have some awareness of the process and language of research

b.     Participate in identification of significant researchable problems

c.    Be a perceptive consumer of research findings

d.    Collaborate with the healthcare team

1. Safety Officer:  The nurse’s primary commitment is to the health, well-being, and safety of the patient across the life span and in all settings in which health care needs are addressed.  Safety is an essential and vital component of quality care.

1. Huntsville Hospital Health System Float Pool RN: The HH Health System Float Pool provides an excellent opportunity for the RN to work throughout the entire System. Float RNs treat a diverse range of patients and enjoy a variety of work settings. The HH Health System Float RN demonstrates the ability to:

a.     Function as a registered nurse in medical surgical, intermediate care, intensive care, emergency care, and psychiatric care settings.

b.     Adapt to change and new ways of working easily and with a cooperative spirit.

c.     Accept assignments up to 13 weeks in duration at any Huntsville Hospital Health System hospital.

Belief System:  We the Nurses of Decatur Morgan Hospital Believe in…

1. Holistic and effective patient care that is based on scientific and ethical principles -nursing is a blend of art and science…it uses the mind as well as the heart.
2. Creating a work climate that nurtures and supports clinical expertise, education, and research while fostering the recruitment and retention of nursing staff who demonstrate the highest integrity, competence, and qualifications.
3. Providing nursing care that will achieve an optimal level of health and wellness, or when this is not possible, support the experience of loss and a peaceful death.
4. Fostering an environment that promotes respect, positive communication, and collaboration among all members – patient, family and healthcare team.

              We also believe that…

1. We should make those we serve our highest priority.
2. We should be technically strong with a thirst for knowledge.
3. Because evidence is ever-changing and evolving, we must actively cultivate our own personal growth and professional development.
4. The character of the nurse is as important as the knowledge he/she possesses.
5. The cultural beliefs, ethnic background, and sexual orientation of a patient or family should be respected without showing discrimination.
6. We should promote health and prevent disease.

Physical Functions

Below are the physical activities that are performed during the normal workday. It should be noted that this information is not inclusive of all job tasks.  These functions are the minimum physical abilities required to perform this position.

Physical Requirements

Occasionally

6 to 33%

Frequently

34 to 66%

Constantly

67 to 100%

Walking

P

Sitting

P

Standing

P

Stooping

P

Bending

P

Kneeling

P

Crouching

P

Twisting

P

Climbing Stairs

Climbing (Ladder/Scaffolding)

Crawling

Stretching/Reaching

P

Pushing/Pulling

P

Hearing

P

Seeing

P

Speaking

P

Hand-finger Dexterity

Lifting/Carrying up to:

     ( ) 20 lbs.

     ( ) 30 lbs.

     ( ) 40 lbs.

     ( ) 50 lbs.

     ( ) 75 lbs.

P

     ( ) 100 lbs.

     ( ) >100 lbs.

Exposure to blood borne pathogens

P

Exposure to dust

P

Exposure to fumes

Exposure to noise

P

Exposure to chemicals

P

Other:  ________________