About This Role
This night-shift post in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) involves supervising daily operations and staff, ensuring adequate staffing levels, overseeing patient care delivery, and maintaining staff competency. The role suits an experienced registered nurse with leadership skills who can provide direct patient care as needed and support the department independently.
Responsibilities
- Assume the roles and responsibilities of the Nurse Manager in their absence
- Support adequate staffing levels and skill mix for all shifts by developing, preparing, and maintaining staffing schedules that meet department/unit needs and apply to variable census conditions
- Make appropriate adjustments/assignments to maximize timely patient care
- Oversee the delivery of patient care
- Direct and delegate patient care assignments to staff based on acuteness of patient care needs, staff availability, and patient safety
- Ensure current competency of all staff and confirm staff compliance with regulatory requirements
- Serve in a charge capacity if/when needed
- Actively take part in the performance appraisal process
- Hold staff accountable for performance standards
- Mediate staff conflicts and provide feedback concerning performance, behavior, etc.
- Collaborate with the Nurse Manager and the Charge Nurse on areas of need on the unit (e.g., problematic flow issues, equipment and supplies issues, documentation issues, patient satisfaction issues, and performance issues)
- Monitor all high-risk and complicated cases and institute appropriate actions
- Identify and address operational problems and other barriers impeding care or service on-the-spot, and make recommendations for permanent/long-term resolution
- Anticipate and resolve patient/family concerns in a timely manner
- Keep patients and families informed
- Protect patient confidentiality by promoting professional staff communications
- Serve as a resource and role model/mentor to charge nurses and staff
- Assist in selecting staff, training/orienting personnel, evaluating performance, preparing work schedules, and making recommendations for personnel actions
- Assist in developing budgets
- Prepare and maintain written documentation as required by the profession and the department
- Demonstrate knowledge of the principles of growth and development over the life span of the assigned patient population
- Assess and interpret patient age-specific data and provide appropriate, age-specific treatment
- Provide direct patient care to assigned patient age group(s)
- Demonstrate a commitment to patient, visitor, and staff by: complying with all applicable safety regulations; learning the impact of medical errors and methodology that will lead to reduction of errors; reporting actual and potential errors, as well as hazardous conditions; identifying opportunities to standardize processes and "error proof" systems that will lead to increased safety; and participating in safety education programs and root cause analyses as required
