Manages, coordinates and performs nursing care with compassion and care for an assigned group of patients and their families and incorporate preventative measures.

NURSING GOAL:  A goal of nursing is to educate and restore a patient to an optimal level of wellness as defines by the patient and their families and incorporate preventative measures.

Education and/or Other Requirements

Graduate of an accredited school of professional nursing.  Current registration or eligibility for licensure with the State of Illinois for practice as a professional nurse.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

• Current Hepatitis b vaccination
• Will complete additional training or demonstrate competency in skills identified in the unit-specific competency plan and skills list.
• Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing.
• Ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions.
• Gives full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Ability to see details at close range.
• Actively looks for ways to help people.
• Understand written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Awareness of other’s reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Uses logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems

• CLINICAL JUDGEMENT – Clinical reasoning, which includes decision-making, critical thinking, and a global grasp of the situation, coupled with nursing skills acquired through a process of integrating formal and informal experiential knowledge and evidence-based guidelines.
• Demonstrates the ability to assess the full scope of patient needs, using the nursing process on a continuous basis.
• Utilizes past nursing experience to anticipate problems while seeking out multi-disciplinary collaboration with comfort, when necessary.
• Recognizes patterns and trends that may predict the direction of illness.
• CARING PRACTICES:  Nursing activity that create a compassionate, supportive, and therapeutic environment for patients/families and staff.  Working on another’s behalf and representing the concerns of the patient/family and nursing staff; serving as a moral agent in identifying and helping to resolve ethical and clinical concerns within and outside the clinical setting.
• Promotes safety throughout patient’s and family’s transitions along the healthcare continuum.
• Actively anticipates and monitors patient and family changes, responds appropriately.
• Effectively resolves patient complaints.
• Engages all patients in a personalized, compassionate manner.
• COLLABORATION/SYSTEMS THINKING – Working with others (e.g., patients, families, healthcare providers) in a way that promotes/encourages each person’s contribution toward achieving optimal/realistic patient/family goals.  Involves intra-and inter- disciplinary work with colleagues and community.  Body of knowledge and tools that allow the nurse to manage whatever Environmental and system resources exist for the patient/family and staff, within or across healthcare and non-healthcare systems.
• Consults and coordinates with team members to assess, plan, implement and evaluate patient care plans.
• Actively utilizes evidence-based practice and customer service data to improve caring practices.
• Effectively plans and communicates patient care plans.
• Facilitates active involvement of others in team meetings regarding patient care and/or practice issues.
• Seeks out opportunities to be taught, coached, and mentored.
• Recruits diverse resources when appropriate to optimize patient outcomes.
• Serves as a resource to department and patient/family.
• RESPONSE TO DIVERSITY – The sensitivity to recognize, appreciate and incorporate differences into the provision of care.  Differences may include, but are not limited to, cultural differences, personalities, spiritual beliefs, gender, race, ethnicity, lifestyle, socioeconomic status, age, and values.
• Integrates cultural differences into patient/family care; incorporates appropriate alternative therapies.
• Tailors healthcare culture to meet the diverse needs and strengths of each patient/family. 
• FACILITATION OF LEARNING – The ability to facilitate learning for patients/families, nursing staff, other members of the healthcare team, and community.  Include both formal and informal facilitation of learning.
• Develops and modifies patient/family education programs throughout delivery of care, collaborating and incorporating all healthcare providers’ and educational plans.
• Provides individualized care.
• Evaluates patient’s understanding by observing behavior changes throughout plan of care.
• Sets patient-driven goals for education.
• Work toward achieving Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
• CLINICAL INQUIRY (INNOVATOR/EVALUATOR) – The ongoing process of questioning and evaluating practice and providing informed practice.  Creating practice changes through research utilization and experimental learning.
• Adapts standards of care to serve particular patient populations.
• Seeks out advice to improve patient care.
• Evaluates current practices based on patient responses, analysis of literature, research, and education.
• Incorporates evidence based practice into care delivery.
• Actively pursues continuing educational opportunities.
• Performs other duties as assigned.