The Perioperative Nurse is a professional registered nurse, qualified by education and recent operating room experience to provide direct patient care and specializes in perioperative nursing practice. Perioperative is used as an encompassing term to incorporate the three phases of the patient's surgical experience. This includes the preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative surgical phases of care.

Duties

The Perioperative Nurse executes position responsibilities that demonstrate leadership, experience, and creative approaches to management of complex client surgical care. The Perioperative Nurse functional role includes specialization in perioperative nursing practice, encompassing the three phases of the patient's surgical experience, responsible for preoperative assessment and postoperative evaluation, provides individualized direct care with emphasis on the intraoperative period, organizing and coordinating the clinical components in response to individual healthcare needs, and care continuum in multiple settings. The goals are to center services around the patient, to foster patient self-managed care, and maximize efficient and cost-effective use of health care resources. The Perioperative Nurse utilizes all avenues of resources available to provide safe and efficient timely coordination of quality health care and services. This list is not self-limiting, and may include other duties as assigned such as the role of the scrub/instrument and circulating nurse and/or the post anesthesia care area. The incumbent collaborates and coordinates the patient's plan of care with the multidisciplinary team members. Major Duties and Responsibilities Applies the nursing process to systems or processes at the unit/team/ workgroup level to improve care and coordinate/plan direct patient care with a multidisciplinary group. Provides nursing care in accordance with the established standards of practice and follows policies and procedures. Initiates problem solving identification and seeks for a timely resolution utilizing the plan-do-check-method of performance improvement process. Collaborates with the health care team, community agencies, and other providers within and outside the command to ensure continuity of the patient's care through all health care settings. Promotes effective communication among health care team members, including the patient, family, and significant others. Participates in frequent team meetings. Presents at least one in-service per year on current topics related to operative and invasive procedures. Contributes to the professional development of peers, colleagues and others. Integrates recommendations of the multidisciplinary team members into a single plan of care. Uses interpersonal communication strategies with individuals, as well as groups of patients/families/significant others and staff that results in the achievement of intended outcomes. Supports interdisciplinary team members in the achievement of established goals and objectives for improving clinical outcomes. Develops collaborative relationships with other services to facilitate and support quality care. Demonstrates use of group process to identify, analyze and resolve problems. Participates in Performance Evaluation and Improvement (PE & I) activities by evaluating patient care systems that may include standards, protocols, and documentation for efficiency, safety, and quality. Incorporates evaluative data in the provision of ongoing surgical care services. Follows established policy/procedures on ensuring correct surgery, informed consent, provision of surgical safety in the OR and prevention of retained surgical items such as instruments, needles and sponges and takes corrective action when counts are incorrect. Will operate equipment/instruments, identify malfunctioning equipment and takes action to assure equipment is restored to proper working conditions. Able to articulate and demonstrate principles of aseptic technique and standard precaution. Documents patient's progress on clinical pathways and/or algorithms. Plans care based on patient needs and health care needs. Utilizes nursing interpretations to alert physicians to significant changes or abnormalities and provides medical information about the patient's condition, medical history and specialized treatment plan or protocol to other professionals. VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package: VA Nurse Total Rewards 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 cst Telework: Not available. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. 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: Have at least a Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing; Have at least 1 year of RN perioperative experience; Maintain current certifications in Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) Be proficient in Perioperative nursing practices/standards as set forth by AORN; Be proficient in the written and spoken use of the English Language. 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. Working Conditions: To perform in a fully successful manner, the individual must have the physical ability to perform job-related duties which require lifting (15-44 pounds), standing (2-6 hours/day), bending, transferring, stooping, stretching, walking (2-5 hours/day), pushing (1 hour/day) or straight pulling without assistance from another patient care provider, reaching above shoulder, use of fingers, use of both hands required, ability for rapid mental and muscular coordination, use of both eyes required, depth perception, and hearing (aid permitted). Administrative duties to include: word processing, computer key board typing, computer screen viewing, filing, note taking and making or answering telephone calls. Environmental factors include: excessive heat and cold, depending on patient condition, age, and surgical intervention, dry atmospheric condition due to low humidity in operating rooms, excessive noise (intermittent) from drills/saws, slippery walking surfaces, protracted or irregular hours of work. A health examination must be successfully completed prior to this assignment and periodically thereafter as required by the Occupational Health Clinic policy. There will be intermittent exposure to blood and body fluids.

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/.

IMPORTANT: 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.

IMPORTANT: For foreign education equivalency the only certifying body the VA recognizes is CGFNS and its' subsidiary, International Consultants of Delaware (ICD). Without certification of BSN-equivalency, the VA can only consider the degree at the associates level and pay will be determined accordingly.

Contacts

• Address Captain James A Lovell Federal Health Care Center 3001 Green Bay Road North Chicago, IL 60064 US
• Name: Antionette Sneed-Clay
• Email: [email protected]