Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant - Orthopedics

Navajo Preference Employment Act

In accordance with Navajo Nation and federal law, TCRHCC has implemented an Affirmative Action Plan pursuant to the Navajo Preference in Employment Act.  Pursuant to this Plan and corresponding TCRHCC Policy, applicants who meet the necessary qualifications for this position and (1) are enrolled members of the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, or San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe will be given preference in hiring and employment for this position, (2) are legally married to enrolled members of the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, or San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe and meet residency requirements will be given secondary preference, and (3) are enrolled members of other federally-recognized American Indian Tribes will be given tertiary preference.
Overview

POSITION SUMMARY

Under the authority of a supervising orthopedic physician, incumbent provides basic care as a Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant for the Orthopedic Department’s ambulatory patients, emergency cases and individuals and families.  The position is also designed to identify high priority goals for promotion for health and prevention of disease.  Assists with other clinical and administrative activities as required.

Qualifications

NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

Master of Science (MS) degree in Nursing or Bachelor’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies

License/Certification:

• Must possess a valid, current, full, and unrestricted license to practice as a Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant in any state within the United States, District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
• Must possess a certificate from the National Commission for Certified Physician Assistants (NCCPA) or must possess a certificate from the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP).
• Must have and maintain current Basic Life Support (BLS) certification by the American Heart Association

Credentialing:

Must be credentialed to serve on the Medical Staff (provide all related information as requested for credentialing process).

Other Skills and Abilities:

A record of satisfactory performance in all prior and current employment as evidenced by positive employment references from previous and current employers.  All employment references must address and indicate success in each one of the following areas:

• Positive working relationships with others and excellent customer service skills
• Demonstrated ability in working with people from all levels of discipline
• Possession of high ethical standards and no history of complaints
• Reliable and dependable; reports to work as scheduled without excessive absences
• Successful completion of and positive results from all background and reference checks, including positive employment references from authorized representatives of past and current employers demonstrating to the satisfaction of TCRHCC a record of satisfactory performance and that the applicant can perform the essential functions of the job
• Successful completion of fingerprint clearance requirements, physical examinations, and other screenings indicating that the applicant is qualified to be employed by TCRHCC and demonstrating to the satisfaction of TCRHCC that the applicant can perform the essential functions of the job
• Submission of all required employment-related documents, applications, resumes, references, and other required information free of false, misleading, or incomplete information, as determined by TCRHCC.

 

MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EFFORT

The physical and mental demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an   employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

       Physical:

The incumbent must have the ability to   sit, stand, and walk for prolonged period of the workday, bend, crouch, twist, maintain balance and reach frequently and drive, climb and kneel occasionally.   The incumbent must have the ability to lift, push and pull up to 24 lbs. frequently and up to over 100 lbs. occasionally. The incumbent must have the ability for far, near vision, depth perception, hearing norm speech, hearing overhead pages, keyboard, and telephone use for ¾ workday, seeing fine details, simple grasping, firm grasping and fine manipulation frequently and color vision occasionally.  The incumbent must accept flexibility to meet units needs ¾ workday.

Mental:

The incumbent must have the ability to cope with high level of stress , concentrate and work in areas that are close and crowded for prolonged periods of the workday; make decisions under high pressure, cope with anger/fear/hostility of others in a calm way, manage altercations, handle a high degree of flexibility, handle multiple priorities in stressful situations, work alone, demonstrate high degree of patience and adapt to shift work frequently.

Environmental:

The incumbent may be exposed to infectious disease for prolonged periods of workday, chemical agents, dust, fumes, gases, extremes in temperature or humidity, hazardous of moving equipment, unprotected heights, and loud noises occasionally.

Responsibilities

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

1. Functions under the supervision of an orthopedic physician in accordance with established policies and procedures.
2. Interviews, assesses, and evaluates patients of all ages to determine their physical condition and type of medical services needed, and orders initial and post-operative diagnostic studies appropriate for the patient’s medical condition.
3. Accurately records and reports facts, including evaluation and treatment of the whole care of the patient and allows all entries into the patient chart to be reviewed and signed by the supervising physician.
4. Adheres to medical regimens to stabilize chronically ill persons; adjusts regimen within established protocols. Discriminates between normal and abnormal findings to recognize early stages of serious physical, emotional, or mental problems.
5. Consults and collaborates with other health care professionals at Tuba City to established health care plans and to review patient progress and response to therapy, including the use of written referrals to other clinic staff, Community Health Nurses, specialty clinics, schools, etc.
6. Maintains reporting and record systems related to patient care and progress, and as required by TCRHCC and Navajo Area Indian Health Service (NAIHS).
7. Teaches patients and family member’s ways to maintain or improve their health status.
8. Carries out treatments and emergency or other procedures required; administers medication; observes and documents patient conditions, changes and reactions to medications and medical treatment.
9. Supervises orthopedic patients involving the whole management of care requiring the application of principles based upon the biological, physical, and social sciences.
10. Evaluates health care plans and has ability to recognize the need for assessment by the physician and other health professionals.
11. Evaluates total health care needs of patients and develops plans to meet these needs.
12. Administration of joint injections, trigger point injections, punch biopsy, stapling, wound closure and maintenance, casting and splinting, local and digital blocks, suturing, and assess for medication management of chronic and acute disease states.
13. Teaches joint replacement classes and completes health history assessments for surgical procedures. Assists in the surgical suite when accompanied by the surgeon.
14. Works on a regularly assigned, rotational or call back basis to provide continuity of medical services during evenings, nights, holidays, and weekends as needed per interdepartmental agreement.
15. Responsible for electronic health records data entry pertinent to patient service role. Ensure proper PPE is always worn while on duty including but not limited to, face mask, gloves, gown, isolation gown, NIOSH-approved N95 filtering facepiece respirator or higher, if available), and eye or face shield.
16. Complete all donning and doffing tasks in a safe acceptable method and discard of used PPE accordingly. (see CDC website for most current updates)
17. Complete task training for all routine cleaning and decontamination processes for all surfaces contaminated by a communicable disease to ensure a high level of patient, visitor, employee, and external customer satisfaction.
18. Completes all patient care documentation in the electronic health record entries accurately and in real-time.
19. Participates in departmental workflow and or testing teams as related to electronic health record or other project initiatives.
20. Performs other duties as assigned.