Clinical Resource Nurse - CHF / Congestive Heart Failure

At Houston Methodist, the Clinical Resource Nurse position is a population-specific clinician, patient/client advocate responsible for assisting patients/families navigate the complex health care system in an organized, effective and efficient manner within the variety of Hospital programs. This position will assist with the standardization and efficiency of care for patients in the assigned service line/unit throughout the continuum of patient care. The Clinical Resource Nurse position models patient-centered care and assumes leadership responsibilities with high level contributions in direct patient interaction, the unit, the service line, and across the organization. This position assists management with the coordination of program education and assists with the overall growth of the service line program. Responsibilities for the Clinical Resource Nurse position may also include leading unit and shared governance activities, assessing service line/unit-based needs related to practice and improvement opportunities, and serving as a clinical resource for both service line program and hospital staff as well as evaluation of direct costs and patient outcomes.

Requirements:

PEOPLE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Develops strong relationships with physicians and healthcare providers to assure effective communication in patient care. Serves as a liaison between ancillary departments, clinicians, physicians and patients to ensure efficient patient flow for service line patients.

• Functions as a subject matter expert consultant to interprofessional team members through provision of advanced assessment skills for care. Develops educational information for the nursing units. Teaches others to critically think by verbally expressing rationale for decisions and following up by coaching and critiquing colleagues' thought processes in complex situations.

• Serves as a patient advocate in preventing/resolving ethical issues. Facilitates interventions to relieve the patient's/family spiritual distress.

• Contributes to improving nurse satisfaction/engagement by serving as a role model and mentor, coaching staff in effective verbal, non-verbal and written communication, which includes active listening, and facilitating teamwork with RNs, non-licensed and interprofessional staff, as evidenced by the annual RN-RN teamwork score and interprofessional relationship score.

SERVICE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Coordinates aspects of patient care and development into the population-specific program through personalized interaction.

• Assists patient care staff or may directly educate the patient and family on disease-specific guidelines and treatment options to enable patient-led treatment decisions. Educates and/or facilitates patient on introduction to program, resource referrals, and counseling.

• Develops informational/educational resources and programs related to program services, teaching nursing care principles, advanced technical knowledge, and provides formal education to groups outside the unit.

• Strives to exceed patients and coworkers' expectations. Drives department activities to improve department score for patient satisfaction on unit-based scorecard, through peer-to-peer accountability.

QUALITY/SAFETY ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Actively participates in a wide range of performance improvement activities by recommending and leading improvements in patient safety-related processes at unit or service line level. Identifies key clinical priorities for improvement in the service line and compares clinical outcomes to national benchmarks and makes recommendations for improvement.

• Serves as a clinical resource for complex and/or highly specialized patient care situations to patient care providers and other health care professionals within the hospital and in the community. May provide clinical expertise on patient care, as needed, as the staff nurse leader to service line patients and leads the interprofessional team in implementing plan of care.

• Contributes to development of service line, hospital standards and guidelines; implements and monitors service line initiatives that improve designated core measure compliance. Involved in various data management activities, which may include abstraction, analysis and presentation. Insures appropriate data is collected and submitted to appropriate databases for service lines supported.

FINANCE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Implements department strategies to achieve financial target on unit-based scorecard and mentors others to do the same through timely documentation of care, decreasing length of stay, optimizing efficiency, and other areas according to department specifications.

• Participates in decisions impacting operational and capital needs as appropriate.

GROWTH/INNOVATION ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Leads and identifies opportunities for practice changes. Develops, facilitates and participates with others in identifying needs, developing, presenting and implementing educational programs within the assigned service line areas for hospital health care providers, patients, families and/or community groups.

• Attends workshops and other educational programs, to ensure awareness of current developments and trends. Stays up to date with professional organizations standards and submit abstracts to national conferences. Incorporates evidence-based practices which are presented to shared governance and leadership. Expands individual nursing knowledge and coaches staff to grow in knowledge, abilities, skills, and attitudes. Completes and updates the individual development plan (IDP) on an on-going basis

This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive; the employee will also perform other reasonably related business/job duties as assigned. Houston Methodist reserves the right to revise job duties and responsibilities as the need arises.

Qualifications:

EDUCATION

• Bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited school of nursing
  

WORK EXPERIENCE

• Three years experience with direct clinical nursing patient care in an acute care or specialty setting
  

• Leadership, Charge or Coordinator experience
  

LICENSES AND CERTIFICATIONS - REQUIRED

• RN - Registered Nurse - Texas State Licensure -- Compact Licensure - Must obtain permanent Texas license within 60 days (if establishing Texas residency) AND
• BLS - Basic Life Support or Instructor (AHA) AND
• Magnet-ANCC recognized certification (HM) within 1 year

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

• Demonstrates the skills and competencies necessary to safely perform the assigned job, determined through on-going skills, competency assessments, and performance evaluations

• Sufficient proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing the English language necessary to perform the essential functions of this job, especially with regard to activities impacting patient or employee safety or security

• Ability to effectively communicate with patients, physicians, family members and co-workers in a manner consistent with a customer service focus and application of positive language principles

• Strong psychosocial assessment and clinical skills

• Demonstrates an effective community resource knowledge base and the judgment/ability to effectively select and coordinate available resources, including referrals to regulatory agencies

• Embodies the behaviors associated with the Leadership, Art and Science of Nursing (identified in Duties and Responsibilities) at the Proficient level according to Benner's model of clinical practice

• Displays professionalism, remains composed under stress, and takes responsibility for delivering on personal and organizational commitments

• Able to work independently; possess organization/time management and prioritization skills

SUPPLEMENTAL REQUIREMENTS

WORK ATTIRE

• Uniform No
• Scrubs Yes
• Business professional Yes
• Other (department approved) No

ON-CALL*
*Note that employees may be required to be on-call during emergencies (ie. DIsaster, Severe Weather Events, etc) regardless of selection below.

• On Call* Yes

TRAVEL**
**Travel specifications may vary by department**

• May require travel within the Houston Metropolitan area Yes
• May require travel outside Houston Metropolitan area No