WOUND, OSTOMY AND CONTINENCE - New Haven - St. Vincent's Medical Center

Description

Location Detail: St Vincents Medical Center

Shift Detail: Shift 1

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St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport has more than 3,200 employees. It includes a 473-bed community teaching hospital, a 76-bed inpatient psychiatric facility in Westport, a large multispecialty provider group, and special needs services for adults and children. St. Vincent's is the first hospital in Fairfield County to be integrated into the Hartford HealthCare network and is the system's second-largest hospital.

This position is an essential member of the nursing clinical team.

The RN certified in wound, ostomy and continence provides expert clinical care, consultation/care coordination, education, quality improvement, leadership and research to the organization in relation to patients/ families and colleagues with wound, skin, ostomy and continence needs. This position is responsible for the assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation and care of wounds (acute and chronic), fistulae, pressure ulcers, skin breakdown, ostomy care and incontinence.

Specifically, the WOCN RN Acute Performs the following:

· Coordinates care for populations of patients, identifies trends, develops evidence-based protocols/treatments and refines protocols based on emerging evidence, products, therapies and outcomes.

· Develops and implements and refines educational programs for patients, families, colleagues and community partners.

· Provides formal and informal consultation and serves as resource for patients, healthcare team and leadership.

· Promotes the profession of nursing and professional practice.

· Represents the organization in a positive and professional manner.

· Advocates for the rights, ethical standards, and safety of patients and healthcare team.

· Is visible, accessible and committed to communicating effectively with staff.

Essential Functions/Responsibilities:  

Direct Patient Care

Provides expert consultation and/or hands-on care for individual patients with acute or chronic wounds, ostomy or continence issues.

• Incorporates specialized evidence-based knowledge and skills to provide excellence in assessment, therapeutic interventions, prevention and health maintenance for patients with select disorders of the integumentary, gastrointestinal and genitourinary systems.

• Differentiates characteristics of wound, ostomy, continence clinical presentations and attributes accurate etiology in development of treatment plans.

• Serves as a consultant to provide potential solutions for complex clinical cases to improve patient care and outcomes.

• Establishes and coordinates multidisciplinary and comprehensive management plans.

• Conducts ongoing re-evaluation and modifies the strategies and interventions as needed.

• Notifies supervising clinician and Team when the wound deteriorates or fails to progress.

Collaborates with healthcare team to provide interdisciplinary referrals to complement the treatment plan.

Care Coordination

Coordinates care for populations of patients with wounds, ostomy and continence conditions.

• Collaborates with Healthcare Teams and leadership to develop best practice cross-setting care coordination using standardized prevention and treatment protocols: Coordination of care involves consideration of care trajectory across multiple settings (pre-op, acute and post-acute).

Education

• Develops and implements educational programs and protocols for patients, staff and other health care providers that address the prevention and management of wound ostomy and continence health conditions.

• Arranges learning opportunities for RN Skin Champion.

• Provides orientation for nurses and other health care team members.

Quality Improvement / Safety

• Collects and interprets wound, ostomy and continence-related data for continuous quality improvement, safety initiatives, surveillance and regulatory compliance.

• Leads or provides guidance in the leadership of initiatives to reduce harm and improve outcomes for patients with wounds, ostomy and continence conditions.

• Participates/ leads research and quality improvement projects to investigate or validate interventions and workflow related to wound ostomy continence care.

Qualifications

Education

• Baccalaureate degree in Nursing. Master's degree in nursing or higher preferred.

Experience

• Minimum of 2 Years with a minimum of 2000 hours of progressive wound and skill experience in clinical practice.

• or more years of active clinical nursing experience preferred.

• Experience in EPIC EHR preferred.

Licensure, Certification, Registration

• Licensed Registered Nurse from the CT DPH.

• Enrollment in a WOCN Society Accredited Educational Program within one year of hire.

• Completion of board certification in wound/ ostomy/continence through WOCNCB within a defined timeline following enrollment in educational program.

• BLS certification.

• Completion of a WOCN Society accredited educational program in wound / ostomy/ continence preferred.

• Current board certified in wound/ ostomy / continence through WOCNCB preferred.

Knowledge, Skills and Ability Requirements

• Strong ability to collaborate with members of the interdisciplinary team.

• Demonstrated ability to facilitate prevention and treatment interventions per protocol.

• Excellent ability to advocate for the patient with skin and wound care needs and for the professional practice.

• Seeks opportunities for professional growth and skill maintenance as WOC RN.

• Strong ability to review cases for quality improvement; formulates, implements, and evaluates plans for improvement in coordination with the interdisciplinary team and other nursing personnel.

• Demonstrated ability to develop and deliver educational programs.

• Working knowledge of high reliability and LEAN process improvement strategies.

• Demonstrated leadership skills and a commitment to education as a methodology for promoting continuous quality improvement in the delivery of patient care and services.

• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.

• Must be able to work independently as well as part of a collaborative team.

• Proficient in use of electronic medical record.

• Working knowledge in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel.

Language Skills

Must be able to effectively communicate information in English.  Multilingual preferred.

We take great care of careers.

With locations around the state, Hartford HealthCare offers exciting opportunities for career development and growth.  Here, you are part of an organization on the cutting edge – helping to bring new technologies, breakthrough treatments and community education to countless men, women and children.  We know that a thriving organization starts with thriving employees-- we provide a competitive benefits program designed to ensure work/life balance.  Every moment matters.  And this is your moment.