Registered Nurse - Hospice

Job Summary

The Registered Nurse (RN) will provide direct patient care services to hospice patients and supportive care to the patient's family. The RN will manage an interdisciplinary group consisting of Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurses, Certified Nursing Assistants, and support staff to enhance the quality of hospice care and case manage all assigned patient clinical records.

Job Responsibilities

• Assure the highest quality of care is provided and documented in accordance with the Plan of Care.
• Perform the initial and ongoing assessment of the patient.
• Help develop and implement the Hospice Plan of Care as prescribed by the physician and in conjunction with the other members of the Interdisciplinary Group.
• Work closely with other members of the Interdisciplinary Group to provide all-inclusive physical, psychosocial, educational, emotional, and spiritual services, including bereavement support to the patient and family, to achieve the highest quality of care.
• Report any change in the patient's condition to both the Attending Physician and Hospice Physician.
• Maintain an accurate and updated medical record, including all Interdisciplinary notes, Plans of Care, initial and ongoing assessments, and any other information pertinent to the care of the patient.
• Practice infection control measures and standard precautions.
• Monitor scheduling of all staff and participate in the Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement Program.
• May be requested to participate in the agency on-call schedule. Consistently promote company's core values.
• This is a safety-sensitive position. Complete required Compliance annual training.
• Perform other activities as assigned. Attend staff meetings.
• Maintain a high level of knowledge pertaining to the management of pain and symptoms in the dying process.
• Make routine supervisory visits of, and with, all other team members at least monthly.
• Perform ongoing review and follow-up on assigned patient clinical records to assure quality services are provided, standards of practice are followed, and compliance with policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements is met and maintained.
• Maintain primary control and professional management of each patient and act as the primary liaison between physician, patient/family, and hospice team to be fully aware and abreast of all clinical issues, staffing, and scheduling concerns.
• Responsible for the education of the patient, family, or other caregivers in relation to needs identified on the Plan of Care, including, but not exclusive of, medication administration, dressing changes, oxygen administration, Hospice philosophy, and care of the terminally ill patient.
• May make a determination and pronouncement of death in the absence of an attending physician.
• An RN must be available at all times to provide or supervise the provision of nursing care.
• Must supervise Aides.
• Prior to providing care independently to patients, an RN must observe the aide delivering care to patients and complete an initial competency evaluation for all tasks assigned to the aide.
• An RN must prepare for each personal care aide written instructions for patient care that are consistent with the interdisciplinary plan of care and must make and document supervisory visits to the terminally ill patient's residence or living facility at least every 2 weeks to assess the performance of the aide services.
• At least annually, there must be written evidence that an RN directly observed the aide's performance of required job tasks and such performance was determined to be competent for all job tasks required to be performed.

Required Skills & Experience

• A minimum of one (1) year experience as an RN, either in acute care hospital, oncology, long-term care, hospice, or home health. School internships and clinical hours may be considered as experience in individual cases.
• Knowledge of terminally ill patients and their families along with an understanding of hospice; ability to apply knowledge of the special needs of hospice patients and families.
• Knowledge of roles of all disciplines providing hospice services; excellent patient assessment skills.
• Knowledge of community resources; good oral and written communication skills; documentation and program management.
• Knowledge of general nursing practice; thorough knowledge of managed care principles, regulatory guidelines (i.e., Medicare, Medicaid, ACHC, and human resource management principles).
• Must be able to effectively operate nursing assessment tools, computers, facsimile equipment, copier, and cell phone/beeper. Must have and maintain transportation to be used for work.

Schedule Notes

• 1 position - M-F 8hr days, 1 position - Fri - Mon. Call may be required.
• 5-6 patients a day. Routine, recert, deaths, on-call, and PRN visits.
• 60-mile travel radius from branch.