Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant - Neuro ICU

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 diverse 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 recognizes that diversity is essential for excellence and innovation. We are committed to an inclusive environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your diversity of culture, thinking, learning, and leading 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:

VUH Advanced Practice Provider

Job Summary:

The Critical Care Nurse Practitioner (NP) works in collaboration with a multidisciplinary health care team. The NP provides healthcare in  critical care settings, including surgical and medical  ICUs. The NP has didactic education, clinical competency and national certification in identified area of clinical practice. The NP 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 NP has an advanced knowledge of nursing theory and application.

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Position Hours

• Full-Time

• Nights

• 3 13 Hour Shifts

Department Summary

The Vanderbilt Neurological ICU is one of the largest in the country with 23 ICU beds and 12 step-down beds. Our large referral base ensures we are consistently treating a full range of neurology and neurosurgical patients. Patients travel from all over the Southeastern region of the United States to receive the specialized care that we provide. As a Comprehensive Stroke Center, we provide top level care and unique services to give our patients the best chance at recovery. Our specially trained Critical Care team is on site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, providing quick access to expert care. Using a multidisciplinary approach helps promote team learning, group dynamics, and excellent patient care. Our patient care focus includes: monitoring the neurological status of our patients; detecting cues of neurological decline; early intervention; quick return to optimal health; and maintenance of ideal neurological status.

Our ICU specializes in providing critical care to patients with: brain tumors; strokes; spinal cord injury; neuromuscular disorders; and many other diseases of the brain, peripheral nerves, and spinal cord. The neurological patient population often has extreme deficits, which require the bedside staff to have excellent neurological assessment skills - thus, our team prides themselves on their teamwork and ever-evolving skill-sets. Our excellence in patient care was recognized at a unit level in 2014, when we were awarded the AACN Beacon Award and the Professional Research Consultants, Inc Excellence in Healthcare award for Overall Quality of Care.

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
• Health Systems and Policy Management (Advanced): Demonstrates sufficient fundamental proficiency in behaviors that reflect a commitment to continuous professional development, ethical practice, an understanding and sensitivity to diversity and a responsible attitude toward their patients, their profession and society. Participates in professiona