PA - General Surgery/ Colon and Rectal Surgery

Discover Vanderbilt University Medical Center:  Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health is committed to an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your uniqueness is sought and celebrated. It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt’s mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research.

Organization:

General Surgery

Job Summary:

The Department of Surgery is accepting applications for a Physician Assistant in our Division of General Surgery with an emphasis in Colon and Rectal Surgery.

We are committed to providing the best in patient care. Our program is one of the region’s most experienced. Patients, and referring doctors, turn to us from throughout Tennessee and across the United States for treatment for colon and rectal conditions, from the common to the complex. To further support our programs, we seek a physician’s assistant in the ambulatory care setting to work as a part of an integrated health care team. This is a split position with clinical responsibilities at our Edward Curd Lane clinic and on VUMC's main campus.

This individual will be a full-time billing provider and will work with faculty to manage a wide variety of patients, including pre and post-operative patients, and a distinct non-surgical patient population in the outpatient setting independently and through collaboration with our multidisciplinary team.
We are seeking and individual with a strong foundation in evidenced based practice and who will be responsible for adherence to clinical pathways and protocols providing safe, quality care in a welcoming environment.

The Surgical Physician Assistant (PA) works in collaboration with a multidisciplinary health care team. The PA provides healthcare in ambulatory and acute care health care settings. Including management of surgical patients from pre-operative, peri-operative and post operative phases of care. The PA has didactic education, clinical competency and national certification in identified area of clinical practice. The PA demonstrates medical knowledge, clinical judgment, technical competence, professionalism, interpersonal communication skills, timely and compliant documentation, and is responsible for professional development and competency validation. The PA has an advanced knowledge of nursing theory and application.

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KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
• Obtains and documents a health history; performs and documents complete, system-focused, or symptom-specific physical examination, assessment and plan of care.
• In collaboration, provides healthcare services for primary, acute and complex care of patients and manages patient's overall care, identifying expected outcomes for diagnoses.
• Orders, performs, interprets and collects data using appropriate assessment techniques, relevant supporting diagnostic information and diagnostic procedures where indicated.
• Forms differential diagnoses and treats acute and chronic conditions.
• Prescribes therapeutic interventions both pharmacologic, non-pharmacologic and surgical, needed to achieve expected outcomes.
• Utilizes evidence-based, approved practice protocols in planning and implementing care;
• Initiates appropriate referrals and consultations;
• Provides specialty specific consultation services upon request and within specialty scope of practice;
• Facilitates the patient’s transition between and within health care settings, such as admitting, transferring, and discharging patients.


TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES
• Professionalism (Advanced): Demonstrates behaviors that reflect a commitment to continuous professional development, ethical practice, an understanding and a responsible attitude toward their patients, their profession and society. Participates in medical center committees, professional organizations and activities that influence advanced practice and/or health outcomes of a population focus.
• Interpersonal and Communication Skills (Advanced): Demonstrates interpersonal and communication skills that enable them to establish and maintain professional relationships with patients, families, and other members of health care teams. Communicates practice knowledge effectively both orally and in writing.
• Practice-Based Scholarly Inquiry and Integration (Advanced): Demonstrates the use of scientific evidence and methods to investigate, eva