Registered Nurse (RN) - Emergency Department (ED)

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health; Lebanon (NH); On-site; USD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health in New Hampshire seeks an experienced Emergency Department Registered Nurse for our Level 1 Trauma Center. The unit offers 43 beds with RN, LPN, Paramedic, EMT, and LNA staff and handles high-volume trauma, neurological, cardiac, obstetric, and medical cases.

Expect rotating shifts (7a–7p, 10a–10p, 11a–11p, 1p–1a, 7p–7a) and a fast-paced environment focused on evidence-based practice and safety for diverse patient populations.

Qualifications

• Graduate from an accredited nursing program is required.
• BSN degree is preferred.
• Active NH RN licensure or eligibility.
• BLS certification required at hire; ACLS and PALS within 6 months.
• AVADE Workplace Violence Prevention Training within one year.
• Moderate Sedation Training within one year; Trauma Nurse Core Course within one year.

Responsibilities

• Provide evidence-based nursing care using the nursing process.
• Assess, diagnose, plan, implement and evaluate individualized care.
• Utilize critical thinking to recognize changes in patient status and escalate as needed.
• Advocate for patients and uphold autonomy according to the ANA Code of Ethics.
• Mentor colleagues and participate in governance of practice.
• Collaborate with care team to optimize patient outcomes.

Skills

Critical thinking

Nursing process

Autonomous practice

Communication

Mentoring

Education

Graduate from accredited Nursing Program

BSN preferred

Job description

Overview

Our Emergency Department unit has 43 beds staffed by RN’s, LPN’s, Paramedics, EMT’s, and LNA’s. We are the only Level 1 Trauma Center in the state of NH and work closely with our system affiliates to accept patients requiring critical/neurological/cardiac/obstetrical/medical or trauma care. Our unit sees a large volume of referrals, transfers and trauma consults from outside facilities, and provides services for the local community. We see 31,000 patients annually to include neonates through geriatric populations in various states of health, often times with multiple diseases processes. Our nurses are trained for resuscitation, acute care, outpatient care, trauma care, mental health and are proceduralists delivering bedside moderate sedation. A typical day for a nurse would involve assisting in a fracture reduction for an adult skier injury, caring for a pediatric patient with uncontrolled asthma, managing a homeless victim found unresponsive in the snow in need of resuscitation, and caring for a cardiac arrest or stroke victim. Emergency Nursing is a specialized area of practice that is both independent and collaborative, requiring the continual acquisition and application of a specialized body of knowledge and skills. This demands a broad scope of practice to promptly deliver emergency, urgent, and non-urgent care to patients of all ages and from all cultural backgrounds. Emergency nursing care is episodic, primary, and typically acute, but may be chronic in nature requiring knowledge and skills to care for patients of all ages, acuities, and physical or psychological conditions.

ROTATING SHIFTS:

7a to 7P, 10a to 10p, 11a to 11p, 1p to 1a, 7p to 7a

Responsibilities

The Clinical Nurse is an engaged and credentialed member of the Professional Nursing Organization and is responsible for autonomous practice directed by the professional tenets of practitioner, leader/decision maker, scientist and transferor. The Clinical Nurse is responsible for utilizing the nursing process to provide evidence-based care and to continuously monitor and evaluate practice to ensure safe passage of patients that is in the best interest of populations served.

• Practitioner
• Utilizes the nursing process to assess, diagnose, identify outcomes, plan, implement and evaluate an individualized plan of care.
• Utilizes critical thinking and the nursing process to anticipate and recognize changes in patient status, taking action to modify the plan of care or to elevate to the care team as necessary.
• Practices in accordance with the ANA Code of Ethics to advocate for patients, uphold their autonomy in decision-making, ensure informed consent and assist patients in families in expressing self-determination.
• Actively seeks feedback and acts to improve performance.
• Engages in the governance of practice.
• Leader/Decision Maker
• Manages interpersonal relationships for self and with others.
• Mentors colleagues for the advancement of nursing practice and the profession.
• Assumes authority and accountability for the nursing care of patients while appropriately delegating elements of care to others members of the care delivery team in accordance with laws, regulations and policies and procedures.
• Prioritizes and organizes time to optimize patient outcomes.
• Scientist
• Actively seeks out the most current evidence and standards and applies and translates to daily practice.
• Role models a culture of inquiry, developing new knowledge by contributing to research, quality improvement, and evidence-based practice at the local level.
• Transferor
• Communicates effectively in a variety of formats in all areas of practice.
• Actively partners with others to effect change that produces positive outcomes through the exchange of knowledge.
• Precepts the student nurse, nurse extern, nurse resident, experienced clinical nurse and other members of the healthcare team.
• Performs other duties as required or assigned.

Qualifications

• Graduate from an accredited Nursing Program required.
• Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing (BSN) preferred.

Required Licensure/Certifications

• Licensed Registered Nurse with New Hampshire eligibility.
• Basic Life Support (BLS) Certificate required upon hire
• ACLS Certificate required within 6 months of hire date.
• PALS Certificate required within 6 months of hire date.
• AVADE Workplace Violence Prevention Training within one year of hire date
• Moderate Sedation Training within one year of hire date.
• Trauma Nurse Core Course within one year of hire date.