The primary purpose of the Nurse Manager is for the planning, organizing, developing, managing, and evaluating the day-to-day operations. The Nurse Manager will assure that all practice elements are implemented to support the patient care needs in a safe, efficient, and timely manner that meets acceptable standards of care and expectations of VHA Directives and Handbooks, accreditation standards and regulations.

Duties

VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package: VA Nurse Total Rewards The Nurse Manager of the Critical Care/Step Down Units will continuously evaluate processes and identify opportunities for improvement. The incumbent will use system redesign principles to improve care and services. The Nurse Manager is responsible for quality and performance measures. They stay current and informed of VA, accreditation, national, state, and local standards, regulations, and requirements. They provide input for local Medical Center Policies (MCP's) and Standard Operation Procedures (SOP's). The Nurse Manager provides leadership in identifying and addressing ethical issues that impact patients and staff, including initiating and participating in ethics consultations. They ensure excellent customer service and will act as the first line patent advocate in response to any complaint or concerns. The Nurse Manager directly supervises all staff in the work unit. The Nurse Manager establishes and maintains effective and collaborative relationship and provides consultation services to all clinical and administrative services. The Nurse Manager works in very close collaboration with the Medical Staff. Major duties include, but are not limited to: Serving as the first line supervisor of all personnel assigned to workgroup. Work closely with relevant professional chiefs and service chiefs to assure quality of care and proper monitoring and maintenance of profession-specific competencies. Continuing responsibility for planning work to be accomplished by subordinates, setting priorities, and preparing schedules for completion of work. Continuing responsibility for assigning work to subordinates based on priorities, selective consideration of the difficulty and the requirements of the assignments, and the capabilities of subordinates. Continuing responsibility for evaluating the performance of subordinates. Continuing responsibility for making recommendations for appointments, advancements, or reassignments of subordinates. Continuing responsibility for giving advice, counsel, or instruction to subordinate personnel on work and administrative matters. Continuing responsibility for hearing and resolving complaints of subordinates and referring more serious complaints not resolved to higher level supervisors. Continuing responsibility for recommending and/or taking disciplinary action where appropriate. Continuing responsibility for identifying developmental and training needs of subordinates and providing or making provision for such development and training (VA Handbook 5007, Part III, Chapter 8). Continuing responsibility for performance improvement, customer service/patient satisfaction, patient, and employee safety, interviewing applicants, employee relations, standards of care and practice, the work environment., accreditation and regulatory standards. Actively develops and manages collaborative partnerships with physicians and other clinicians. Responsible for staffing the work unit and working with other Supervisor or Managers to identify and share resources. Responsible effective use of resources FTEE, overtime, nursing hours per patient day, skill mix, use of non-direct care hours and productivity. Responsible for time scheduling of the unit, coaches staff, deals with employee conduct and performance issues, completes recurring reports and performance evaluations in a timely manner. Participate on service and medical center committees and task forces to improve nursing practice and patient care. Identifies educational needs of staff and ensures that these needs are addressed. Has an integral role in supporting and facilitating student nurse clinical experiences, as well as orienting new staff. Works with the labor partners and adheres to EEO principles. In the absence of a Nurse Manager, incumbent may be required to cross cover and will be designated to handle other administrative and clinical issues, such as staffing coverage, granting leave, and patient and/or staff issues. Pay: Competitive salary, regular salary increases, potential for performance awards Paid Time Off: 50 days of paid time off per year (26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Licensure: 1 full and unrestricted license from any US State or territory Work Schedule: Monday- Friday, 7:30am- 4:00pm Telework: Ad-Hoc in accordance with local policy. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized. Financial Disclosure Report: Not required.

Requirements

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. English Language Proficiency. In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), no person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. Graduate of a school of professional nursing approved by one of the following accrediting bodies at the time the program was completed by the applicant: The Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) or The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). The approving official may authorize a waiver of the requirement for ACEN or CCNE accreditation of any degree in nursing provided the college or university has regional accreditation from an accrediting body recognized by the Department of Education at the time of the candidate's graduation and the composite qualifications of the applicant warrant such consideration. In cases of graduates of foreign schools of professional nursing, possession of current, full, active and unrestricted registration will meet the requirement of graduation from an approved school of professional nursing. OR The completion of coursework equivalent to a nursing degree in a MSN Bridge Program that qualifies for professional nursing registration constitutes the completion of an approved course of study of professional nursing. Students should submit the certificate of professional nursing to sit for the NCLEX to the VA along with a copy of the MSN transcript. (Reference VA Handbook 5005, Appendix G6) OR In cases of graduates of foreign schools of professional nursing, possession of a current, full, active and unrestricted registration will meet the requirement for graduation from an approved school of professional nursing. Current, full, active, and unrestricted registration as a graduate professional nurse in a State, Territory or Commonwealth (i.e., Puerto Rico) of the United States, or the District of Columbia. Preferred Experience: BSN is preferred. BLS and ACLS is required. Minimum of 4 years ICU experience is preferred. 3 years of leadership experience is preferred. Certification in related clinical or nursing leadership is preferred. Grade Determinations: The following criteria must be met in determining the grade assignment of candidates, and if appropriate, the level within a grade: Nurse I Level I - An Associate Degree (ADN) or Diploma in Nursing, with no additional nursing practice/experience required. Nurse I Level II - An ADN or Diploma in Nursing and approximately 1 year of nursing practice/experience; OR an ADN or Diploma in Nursing and a bachelor's degree in a related field with no additional nursing practice/experience; OR a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing (BSN) with no additional nursing practice/experience. Nurse I Level III - An ADN or Diploma in Nursing and approximately 2-3 years of nursing practice/experience; OR an ADN or Diploma in Nursing and a Bachelor's degree in a related field and approximately 1-2 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a BSN with approximately 1-2 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a Master's degree in nursing (MSN) or related field with a BSN and no additional nursing practice/experience. Nurse II - A BSN with approximately 2-3 years of nursing practice/experience; OR ADN or Diploma in Nursing and a Bachelor's degree in a related field and approximately 2-3 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a Master's degree in nursing or related field with a BSN and approximately 1-2 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a Doctoral degree in nursing or meets basic requirements for appointment and has doctoral degree in a related field with no additional nursing practice/experience required. Nurse III - Master's degree in nursing or related field with BSN and approximately 2-3 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a Doctoral degree and approximately 2-3 years of nursing practice/experience. Note regarding MSN degrees: If your MSN was obtained via a Bridge Program that qualifies for professional nursing registration, a BSN is not required. Reference: VA Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G-6 Nurse Qualification Standard. This can be found in the local Human Resources Office. Physical Requirements: The population of male and female Veterans served ranges from the adult, age 18, to the elderly adult, age 65 and over. VASTLHCS is a major interdisciplinary teaching facility, serving medical, surgical, and neurological inpatients and outpatients. There is a large outpatient psychiatric population, with visits to the Emergency Department and admissions for medical co-morbidities. This position requires potentially long periods of continued walking, standing, stooping, sitting, bending, pulling, and pushing. Transferring patients and objects may be required. The physical requirements of this position include the following tasks which may be performed intermittently: lifting of up to 50 lbs. (3 hours), sitting (2 hours), standing (4 hours), walking (8 hours), climbing (1hour), kneeling (3 hours), bending/stooping (3 hours), twisting (2 hours), pushing/pulling (6 hours), simple grasping (8 hours), fine manipulation (8 hours), reaching above the shoulder (4 hours), and operating machinery (8 hours). This position requires visual acuity, keen hearing, clear distinctive speech, and manual dexterity. The incumbent must be a mature, flexible, sensible individual capable of working effectively in stressful situations, able to shift priorities based on patient needs. Must complete annual Employee Health requirements.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address VA St Louis Health Care System 1 Jefferson Barracks Drive St. Louis, MO 63125 US
• Name: Jesse Litto
• Phone: (412) 654-1525
• Email: [email protected]