Perinatal Nurse

Job Summary:

As a leader in the healthcare team, this Registered Nurse will provide professional nursing care, utilizing the nursing process in accordance with established standards of care, policies, and procedures. The ideal candidate will demonstrate performance consistent with the Medical Center Vision, Mission, and Strategic Plan of Kaiser Permanente. This role requires flexibility, quality, and effectiveness in work habits and clinical practice, as well as treating co-workers, patients, families, and all members of the healthcare team with dignity and respect.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Uphold Kaiser Permanente's Policies and Procedures, Principles of Responsibilities, and applicable state, federal, and local laws.
• Serve as a leader of the healthcare team, delegate tasks appropriately, and demonstrate accountability.
• Understand own and team members' scope of practice and escalate issues as necessary.
• Demonstrate professional, supportive behavior.
• Champion new ideas.
• Lead and direct others through the change process.
• Utilize communication strategies, including chain of command and issue escalation, resulting in intended outcomes.
• Participate in problem identification and resolution.
• Mentor, orient, and coach others in unit-specific operations and patient care activities.
• Share responsibility and authority with subordinates and hold them accountable for performance.
• Demonstrate ability to problem-solve with other departments to assist member problem resolution.
• Prioritize, delegate, and supervise work assignments appropriately to ensure completion of patient care activities.
• Comply with regulatory requirements, policies, procedures, and standards of practice.

Nursing Process:

• Develop and/or contribute to the individualized plan of care that reflects assessment, planning, implementing, and evaluating the outcomes of that plan.
• Ensure the plan shows multidisciplinary planning, consultation, and education.
• Ensure the plan is reflective of admission or outpatient database, on-going findings, age-appropriate care, cultural-specific needs, and appropriate acuity.
• Ensure the plan is discussed with the patient, family/significant others, and completed in a timely manner.
• Monitor the patient's progress based on the plan.
• Revises the plan on an ongoing basis based on patient condition and evaluation of progress.
• Ensure care meets standards of practice.
• Ensure effective development and completion of discharge plan, including discharge barriers and patient/family education. Ensure that the patient clearly understands discharge instructions. In outpatient, identify barriers and needs for patient/family education that will facilitate the outpatient medical management plan.
• Ensure patient safety related but not limited to, medications and procedures utilizing the five rights; patient falls; decubitus prevention and prevention of nosocomial infections.
• Ensure optimal pain control and patient comfort; identify and discuss patient anxieties, fears, or concerns regarding patient condition, treatment, or discharge.
• Ensure that the patient understands medication purpose, side effects, and administration instructions in the hospital as well as at the time of discharge.

Documentation:

• Charting is accurate, legible, dated, and timed.
• Documentation reflects nursing process and interventions and evaluations taken.
• Utilize computer systems effectively and efficiently for optimal patient care.

Clinical Outcomes:

• Discuss patient findings and progress toward outcomes with physicians and other members of the healthcare team.
• Demonstrate competencies during the probationary period and ongoing completion by departmental competency validation.
• Make comprehensive nursing decisions based on interpretation of data, assessments, and evaluations of patient outcomes.
• Participate in departmental performance improvement activities, i.e., planning, measuring/monitoring, assessing, and improving.

Workplace Safety:

• Adherence to LMP Workplace Safety principles and practices.
• Apply standard precautions; maintain a safe environment for self and others.

Patient Care Experience:

• Practice customer service standards as defined by the Service Area, Medical Center, and specified department.
• Promptly answer call lights, alarms, and patient requests.
• Makes appropriate referrals and facilitates the customer's ability to utilize resources.
• Maintain and protect patient confidentiality.
• Ensure clean, orderly, and functional work environment.
• Treat all families of patients with courtesy, respect, kindness, and compassion.
• Provide an optimal patient care experience by actively listening to the needs of patients and family members and taking responsibility for meeting those identified needs.
• Gives patients information in a way they can understand and ensures comprehension.
• Provide a patient care experience that exceeds members' expectations.

Team Commitment:

• Viewed by others to be an effective team member who is flexible, cooperative, and willing to assist others.
• Confront difficult or conflict situations constructively and seek appropriate assistance.
• Takes accountability for own actions and accepts constructive criticism.
• Acts as a resource, preceptor, and mentor to new employees, registry, students, and other team members.
• Attend all mandatory meetings, in-services, and staff meetings as required, actively participate in other departmental professional development. (Requirement may vary for per diem staff).
• Participate with the assessment of current and future unit learning needs and development of an annual education plan.
• Keep self-informed of activities on the unit and make recommendations for change.
• Adhere to Attendance Program. Reports to assigned area promptly, being present and available for report at the beginning of assigned shift.
• Support a collaborative Labor-Management Partnership environment through unit-based teams.

Fiscal Responsibility:

• Organize work to minimize the use of overtime.
• Identify and assist in systems improvement that needs simplification or correction.
• Utilize payroll and non-payroll resources to their maximum potential.

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