POSITION SUMMARY: The Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) Registered Nurse (RN) provides direct nursing care in accordance with established policies, procedures, and protocols of the healthcare organization. The PACU department is staffed from 0630 to 2300 Monday through Friday, with on-call requirements to cover 24-hour service. The tasks and responsibilities include assessment, planning, and evaluating the nursing care needs of the patient in the immediate preoperative, post-operative, or post-procedure period. The patient needs will include providing comfort and support for peri-operative patients and families, evaluation of responses to treatments, interventions, and anticipating the case-specific needs based on knowledge of procedure and pathophysiology of the patient. The PACU RN will, in addition to monitoring, recording, and communicating patient condition utilizing computerized documentation systems, execute physician orders, manage pain control, administer medication, serve as the primary coordinator of all disciplines for patient care in the peri-operative setting, and provide age and culturally appropriate care. Experienced PACU RNs may participate in the orientation and mentoring of new staff members.
QUALIFICATIONS: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential core function satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, experience, and ability necessary to perform this job.
ESSENTIAL CORE FUNCTIONS:
- Nursing process-admission and discharge of patient, orientation of patient and family to environment, pre and post-operative care.
- Patient safety-identification, fall prevention, skin and wound program.
- Oxygen therapy.
- Documentation – computerized.
- Patient/family education.
- Medication reconciliation.
- Chain of Command.
- Physician order management.
- Pain management.
- Medication administration.
- Blood administration.
- IV therapy.
- Restraint management.
- Follows Standard Precautions using personal protective equipment as required.
PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS:
A. Core Competencies:
- Service: Strives to meet expectations/needs of customers; responds to concerns with sense of urgency; seeks win-win solutions for reasonable patient/customer expectations.
- Quality/Ethics/Integrity: Seeks opportunities for improvement; prevents small problems from becoming large; pays attention to detail; follows instructions and protocol/procedures; adheres to company code of conduct; maintains integrity in all aspects of work.
- Relationships: Builds effective working relationships; finds and provides information to clarify situations; expands on original ideas; contributes own ideas; places high priority on other team members’ goals; gains team agreement to support ideas; clearly explains rationale behind ideas/goals; demonstrates sensitivity to differing cultural views and needs; meets attendance and punctuality requirements.
- Adaptability: Seeks to understand changes in work tasks/processes; actively seeks information about new tasks/processes; treats change and new tasks/processes as opportunities for learning and personal growth; speaks positively about changes to others; quickly modifies behavior to deal effectively with change.
B. Job Specific: As defined in department-specific competencies.
EDUCATION REQUIRED AND/OR PREFERRED:
- Associate Degree in Nursing or Nursing Diploma from an accredited institution required.
- Bachelor of Science in Nursing preferred.
LICENSURE/CERTIFICATION:
- Current FL RN license required or appropriate compact licensure. If compact license held in another state, active FL RN compact license required within 90 days of hire. Advanced Nurse Practitioner license acceptable.
- American Red Cross or American Heart Association Basic Life Support Course (BLS or BCLS) and Certification required within 30 days.
- American Red Cross or American Heart Association Advanced Life Support Course (ALS or ACLS) and Certification (45-day grace period).
- American Red Cross or American Heart Association Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) Course and Certification (45-day grace period).
*Instructor certifications interchangeable with required certifications.
EXPERIENCE REQUIRED OR PREFERRED:
- 2 years hospital experience preferred.
- 2 years Critical Care experience preferred.
SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, AND ABILITIES:
- Customer service abilities including effective listening skills.
- Critical thinking skills, decisive judgment, and the ability to work with minimal supervision in a fast-paced environment.
- Ability to perform work that requires frequent standing, bending, reaching, squatting, kneeling, moving, lifting of patients and/or equipment up to 50lbs.
- Possess the ability to work as a member of a team or independently as the situation requires and to prioritize responsibilities.
CUSTOMERS SERVED: All employees, staff of Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center in both clinical and non-clinical departments, including patients/families, physicians, volunteers, agency, contract, students, and the community.
COMPETENCIES: The competencies identified for this position are summarized and reviewed periodically throughout employment. The required behaviors and measurement associated with core, job-specific, age-specific, and management (if applicable) competencies are maintained in the department education file.
PHYSICAL & MENTAL REQUIREMENTS: The physical demands described herein are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
If you are looking for an opportunity that provides satisfaction and personal growth, we encourage you to apply for our PACU RN PRN opening. We review all applications. Qualified candidates will be contacted for interviews. Unlock the possibilities and apply today!
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
