RN Clinical Leader - Primary Care

Location: CHA Somerville Campus 

Work Days: M-F, Some evenings  

Category: Registered Nurse  

Department: CHA Somerville Pediatrics  

Job Type: Full time  

Work Shift: Various Shifts 

Hours/Week: 40.00 

Union: Yes 

Union Name: MNA Somerville

Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) is a leader in Primary Care, supporting a highly diverse population across the Boston metro-north region. Today, CHA serves more than 120,000 primary care patients during more than 300,000 annual visits. Services are available at 13 primary care centers, 3 teen health centers, via telehealth, and through some very special programs, right in patient homes. As a member of CHA Primary Care, you will be part of a dynamic team that values creativity and innovation. You will help deliver care across the entire spectrum of primary care – with internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, geriatrics and women’s health services. You will be in a team-based setting, where primary care works hand-in-hand with behavioral health, pharmacy, complex care and multilingual interpreter services. CHA is also a teaching hospital, with several primary care centers hosting CHA’s Harvard Internal Medicine residency and Tufts Family Medicine residency.

Summary:
• The Clinical Leader knows and understands the philosophy, objectives, policies and procedures of Nursing Service and provides for their implementation.
• The Clinical Leader plans, administers and supervises nursing and related services with the medical/surgical staff.
• Service Excellence Key Responsibility
o Conforms behavior and actions to the expectations of the Service Excellence Program by exhibiting excellent customer relations skills to patients, visitors, physicians and co-workers.

Responsibilities:
Clinical Management/Leadership:
• Serves as an expert nursing resource to the interdisciplinary team regarding patient care issues and unit operations.
• Facilitates clinical coordination of care to ensure a smooth patient flow and maximize patient experience.
• Develops a daily staffing plan to ensure adequate nursing resources based on changing patient census and acuity.
• Collaborates with nurse manager around effective use of staff resources and staffing issues.
• As charge nurse, provides leadership for unit operations on a daily basis
• Communicates pertinent information regarding departmental activities and leads unit practice changes.
• Assists in preparation of scheduling of staff.
• Re-evaluates and adjusts assignments as volume and acuity change.
• Follows through on problems by using the appropriate clinical and administrative channels.
• Participates in the development of annual unit based goals and objectives.
• Recognizes environmental and system constraints that impact unit operations.
• Acts as a change agent among the staff in response to the evolving healthcare environment.
• Serves as an expert resource to all members of the multidisciplinary team regarding unit operations and patient care issues.
• Provides leadership to facilitate conflict resolution in collaboration with the nurse manager.
• Coordinates education, implementation and monitoring of systems for acquisitions and maintenance of equipment and supplies.
• Collaborates within and across service lines and departments to ensure effective clinical operations and continually improve effectiveness and efficiency of systems.
• Acts as clinical resource for staff members using evidence-based knowledge and prevailing standards.
• Identifies performance problems to the nurse manager.
• Actively participates and facilitates staff participation in unit, department, and hospital committees.
• Assumes a leadership role in clinical and administrative multi-disciplinary collaborative practice activities.
• Collaborates with Nursing Department around effective use of staff resources.
• Creates a supportive and cohesive environment that facilitates learning and professional growth.
• Conducts daily unit rounds on all patients to enhance their experience and improve satisfaction scores. Proactively identifies and addresses concerns/issues.
• Collaborates with Nurse Manager or designee to implement service recovery when necessary.

Clinical Practice:
• Acts as a first line clinical resource for staff.
• Demonstrates professional excellence in the care of patients through direct interventions and as a resource to colleagues.
• Initiates and collaborates with unit colleagues to develop, implement, and evaluate clinical standards.
• Reviews staff documentation and delivery of patient care and identifies areas for improvement.
• Develops and implements plans for improving patient care documentation.
• Maintains ongoing assessment of staff’s clinical decision making.
• Collaborates with staff nurses on development of their comprehensive plans of care.
• Promotes independent decision making and problem solving by staff nurses while being available for consultation.

Staff Development:
• Supports the orientation of new clinical staff and the development of clinical expertise in all unit staff
• Contributes to the performance assessment of peers and participates in counseling staff as needed.
• Provides real time staff feedback related to their patient assessment, clinical decision making skills, provision of patient care, clinical documentation and shares areas for improvement
• Participates in the determination of unit based competency needs
• Contributes to the evaluation of individual and unit based competency plans

Quality Improvement:
• Participates in the development of annual unit based competency goals and objectives based on unit outcome data and needed system and process changes
• Supports staff with the implementation and evaluation of quality improvement initiatives, evidence based practice changes, clinical guidelines, protocols, policies and procedures.
• Demonstrates an ongoing awareness of and participation in the quality improvement program.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
Graduate of NLN Accredited School of Nursing. BSN preferred.
Licensure: Current Massachusetts licensure as Registered Nurse
Certifications: AHA or ARC BLS, Specialty certification required or obtained within one year of hire.
Experience: Current RN experience in a Pediatric Primary Care Clinic

 
In keeping with federal, state and local laws, Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) policy forbids employees and associates to discriminate against anyone based on race, religion, color, gender, age, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by law. We are committed to establishing and maintaining a workplace free of discrimination. We are fully committed to equal employment opportunity. We will not tolerate unlawful discrimination in the recruitment, hiring, termination, promotion, salary treatment or any other condition of employment or career development. Furthermore, we will not tolerate the use of discriminatory slurs, or other remarks, jokes or conduct, that in the judgment of CHA, encourage or permit an offensive or hostile work environment.