Nurse Practitioner OR Physician Assistant - Observation Unit - Mary Washington Hospital

Start the day excited to make a difference…end the day knowing you did.  Come join our team.

Job Summary:

The Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant provides clinical services to the appropriate programs and its patients/in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. The Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant is actively involved in providing formal and informal care, education and participates in the review and development of specific policies, procedures, and practice guidelines. The incumbent in this position must be able to demonstrate effective interpersonal skills and an understanding of the interdependent roles of various allied health professions.
This individual will assess physical, psychosocial, cognitive, and functional components, develop a treatment plan, order and interpret diagnostic components of the plan, and prescribe non-pharmacological and pharmacological agents.

The Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant functions professionally under a practice agreement with the supervising physician and operationally under the Vice President Nursing Services and/or the designee.

Essential Functions & Responsibilities: 

• In collaboration with physician, demonstrates ability to consul patients and family members about diagnosis, testing, surgery and risk of procedures.
• Performs comprehensive health assessments for the purpose of diagnosing and treating individuals.
• Formulates appropriate differential diagnosis, develop treatment plan to include appropriate diagnostics; identifies non-pharmacological interventions, appropriate pharmacological agents and education. The plan is based on mutually established priorities to maximize the heath potential of the patient.
• Provides relevant patient and family education; makes appropriate referrals to other professional and community agencies.
• Orders and provides preliminary interpretation of diagnostic studies.
• Prescribes non-pharmacological therapies and pharmacological agents within the defined scope of service and according to guidelines established by the supervising physician.
• Demonstrates the ability to use effective organizational/prioritization problem-solving and decision-making abilities in practice.
• Provides emergency treatments and initiates emergency life saving measures per ACLS guidelines.
• Meets all the requirements of the practice agreement with the supervising physician under the regulations and requirements of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Delineation of Privileges:

• Obtain, record and dictate medical histories
• Perform, record and dictate physical examinations
• Make daily rounds, record progress notes, write routine comfort and diet orders, order laboratory tests and non-invasive examinations, write approved routine orders, and change dressings
• Prepare patients for discharge from the hospital
• Dictate discharge and transfer summaries
• Evaluate patients who require a surgical consult

Clinical procedures:

• Apply and change dressings
• Remove sutures and staples
• Perform venipunctures
• Insert IV needles and catheters
• Catheterize urinary bladder
• Pass nasogastric tubes
• Place and remove chest tubes and monitoring lines
• Irrigate chest tubes and catheters
• Remove intra-aortic balloon pump
• Debride, irrigate and pack surgical wounds
• Remove drainage catheters

Communication:

• Educate patient/family regarding disease, procedures, medication, nutrition, healthcare, and post-discharge care
• Dictate letters to physicians, patients
• Act as liaison between patients and physicians
• Act as liaison between nursing and physicians
• Request consults from health agencies and act as liaison
• Make and receive phone calls to/from patients, physicians and nurses for information, advise, triage

Other

• Maintain statistics
• Complete insurance forms and home health forms
• Maintain written material; teach devices and special equipment for use of personnel and patients.

Qualifications:

• Registered Nurse licensed to practice in Virginia or eligible, required

• Successful completion of Physician Assistant National Certification Exam, required

• MSN, required
• Current Virginia state certification as an Adult Nurse Practitioner, required
• AHA BLS Provider CPR required
• Recent adult medical-surgical experience (5 years of experience), required
• Ability to work effectively in emergency situations and under stress
• Proficient leadership skills
• Ability to work cooperatively/collaboratively as part of a team, developing productive working relationships with diverse groups of people.

As an EOE/AA employer, the organization will not discriminate in its employment practices due to an applicant's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, and veteran or disability status.