The posting
The Hospice On-Call Nurse responds to calls from patients, families, caregivers, and referral sources. The nurse assesses, utilizes critical thinking and gives advice or delivers care to patients utilizing the nursing process of assessment, planning, interventions, implementation, and evaluation; and effectively interacts with patients, significant others, and other interdisciplinary team members while maintaining standards of professional nursing and clinical competency.
Job Qualifications:
Education: Graduate of an accredited school of nursing.
Licensure: Valid license as a Registered Nurse. Current Basic Life Support certification. Valid state Driver’s License.
Experience: Hospice or Home Health experience is preferred. Minimum one year of recent professional nursing experience.
Knowledge and Skills:
- Operating within the framework of policies and procedures, state and federal regulations and the patients plan of care the on-call nurse is responsible for the management and care of Traditions Health patients after business hours
- Able to cope with emotional stress and be tolerant of individual lifestyles
- Sensitive to the needs of patients with advanced illness and families and one's own feelings about dying and death
- Must be able to work independently
- Good interpersonal skills
- Computer skills including Microsoft word and e-mail required
Transportation: Reliable transportation and valid and current driver’s license and auto insurance. Staff will be required to work in patient’s homes and be responsible for own transportation.
Environmental and Working Conditions:
Works in customer’s offices in various conditions. Ability to travel to customer’s locations, some overnight stays, some exposure to unpleasant weather. Staff may be exposed to virus, disease and infection from patients and specimens in working environment.
Physical and Mental Effort:
Prolonged sitting and some standing are required. Staff may experience traumatic situations in the family setting. Occasional need to lift, pull, carry and push items weighing up to 50 lbs to carry laptop computer/peripherals and luggage. Requires working under some stressful conditions to meet deadlines and agency needs. Requires excellent problem- solving skills.
Essential Functions:
- The on-call nurse will be available by phone or pager to meet the needs of the patients, as assigned, from 5PM to 9:00AM Mondays through Fridays and for the 24-hour period beginning at 9AM on Saturdays and Sundays.
- S/he is responsible for identifying and coordinating patient/family care to support patients with advanced illness and families in home, skilled nursing facility or residential care facility.
- Communication related to on call interventions will be documented and communicated to the Case Manager with his/her assessment, plan of care changes and on-going need.
- The On-call Nurse endeavors to utilize teaching, assessment, and intervention skills to provide comfort care and maximize the quality of life for the patients and families
- Assessing hospice needs, being aware of the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects and gather data on social, economic and cultural factors which may influence health, well-being and quality of life. Additionally, receiving reports from nursing staff.
- Responding to calls from answering service and voice mail system in a timely manner.
- Triaging patient related calls by determining the needs of the caller and then responding in an appropriate manner either by phone or with a visit.
- Implementing changes to the plan of care as needed with interdisciplinary collaboration with the support of the hospice medical director and / or the attending physician.
- Documenting and communicating all calls, interventions, care plan changes, physician contacts in a manner consistent with policy and procedure.
- Documenting accurate assessment of patient status and updating the plan of care utilizing appropriate communication (verbal, electronic, written, email documents and databases).
- Document patient care reflecting nursing interventions, patient response to care, focusing on the patient’s goals. Documentation includes evidence of appropriate patient/significant other teaching, and the understanding of these instructions is noted in the medical record.
- Assisting patients, family members or caregivers with concern and empathy; respect confidentiality and privacy and communicate in a courteous and respectful manner.
- Coordinating services with contracted vendors, outside agencies and interdisciplinary team as needed. Investigate and follow through on orders or requests for service or information.
- Attending patient deaths to provide support to the patient’s family, contact the mortuary, advise on disposal of narcotics, notify the IDT as well as contracted vendors providing services to the patient.
- Provide bereavement resources to the family as appropriate.
- Responding to referrals calls, providing the caller with information regarding hospice care, screening calls for appropriateness, taking patient information and coordinating with the admin on-call to schedule the visit.
- Gain knowledge of and availability to perform patient intakes and information visits as needed including explanation of the hospice benefit/Medicare, complete physical assessment, completion of all pertinent paperwork, and communication of new patient status to the Hospice team.
- Performing patient admission visits as assigned by supervisor. Reporting concerns to the hospice supervisor on-call. Performing other duties within scope of practice and as training permits
- Participate in the agency’s on-call rotation as prescribed by the needs of the agency to provide nursing service to clients when required outside of regular office hours including covering continuous care hours when assigned by on-call supervisor.
- Performing as a member of the Traditions Health team as a whole and participates in the Mission and Core Values.
- The RN/LVN is required to provide point of service electronic charting and documentation at time of patient visit or admission. Ability to operate a computer and / or a tablet PC, and proficiency with Windows-based software programs, is required.
- Documentation submitted (signed) within the company policy
Equal Employment Opportunity:
Traditions Health is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination of any kind based on race, color, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy or any other legally protected characteristic.
