Registered Nurse - Cardiac Surgery

Job description / Role

Registered Nurse - Cardiac Surgery at The #1 Ranked hospital in The Middle East.

Description
Unit Description: Cardiovascular Telemetry Unit (CVT)

No. of Beds:
- 20 Cardiovascular
- 3 Vascular
- 9 Pediatric Cardiology beds .

Scope of Service:

The Cardio-Vascular Telemetry Care Unit provides nursing care for adult and pediatric cardiac patients requiring:
- Various forms of cardiovascular surgeries.
- The most common adult cardiovascular surgical procedures are CABG, Valve repair/replacement, Heart transplantation and Congenital Cardiac Anomaly Repairs.
- Correction of Pediatric cardiac congenital anomalies include definitive surgeries such as arterial switch, VSD repair, ASD repair, AVSD correction, PDA, SAMR, TOF correction, Rastelli procedure, Fontan procedure, DORV correction, RVOT correction, PA augmentations, palliative procedures such as PA banding, BT shunt, Glenn shunt and central shunt. Cardiac catheterization and non surgical repair procedures done in cathlab.
- Vascular surgeries include Fem-po p bypass, Amputation, AAA repair.

Frequent Procedures/Services/Functions
- Use of nursing process: assessment, planning, interventions, and evaluation.
- Continuous cardiac telemetry monitoring with dysrhythmia interpretation and treatment
- Continuous nursing assessments and evaluation of patient's physical and emotional needs and corresponding therapeutic interventions.
- Therapeutic modalities including chest tube insertion, maintenance and removal, temporary external pacing, maintenance and removal of epicardial pacing wires, permanent invasive pacing, emergency resuscitation, defibrillation/emergency cardioversion, open chest resuscitations, maintenance of pericardial catheters and peritoneal dialysis.
- Medication delivery and pharmacological interventions including non titratable doses of intravenous vasoactive and antiarrhythmic drugs, anticoagulation, and immunosuppressive therapy.
- Blood products administration.
- Central and peripheral vascular line blood draws
- Maintenance and Removal of central lines
- Oxygen therapy and pulse oximetry.
- Maintenance and weaning off tracheostomy tubes.
- Maintenance of skin integrity.
- Nutritional support (enteral feedings, TPN, calorie counts).
- Infection control and safety management.
- Psychosocial and emotional support.
- Patient and family education.

Hours of Operation
24 hours a day, 7 days a week

CRITERIA FOR ADMISSION TO SERVICE
The main criteria for admission to the unit is both the pre-operative admission or the 48-72 hour post-operative rehabilitation of any patient (pediatric & adult) having congenital cardiac anomalies requiring corrections, coronary artery bypass grafting, valvular repair or replacement, pediatric cardiology patient for investigation and/or medical management and vascular surgery management.

STAFFING PLAN
- Nurse patient ratio: 1: 3 on days and 1: 4 on nights (staffing ratio varies depends on patient acuity and according to the established NHPPD).
- Number and Mix of Staff
- Staffing is provided by registered nurses functioning in a total care nursing system. A clinical instructor is designated for the unit. She/he shall be responsible for clinical education of the staff.
- A charge nurse is also assigned for each shift and is responsible for the co-ordination of admissions and discharges into the unit. A charge nurse is assigned on night shift who will be responsible for supervision and the quality of care delivered by personnel of her/his shift
- Shift assignments are made each shift by the charge nurse based on the following criteria:

Complexity of patient's condition and required nursing care.
- Dynamics of patient's status, including the frequency with which the need for specific nursing care activities changes.
- Complexity of assessment required by the patient.
- Type of technology employed in providing nursing care.
- Degree of supervision required by each nursing staff member based on her/his previously assessed level of competence.
- Availability of supervision appropriate to the assessed and current competence of nursing staff member.
- Relevant infection control and safety issues.
- Cultural consideration in assigning pediatric patients with female sitters.
- Ward clerk/translator staff is utilized from 0700-2330 hours on a daily basis.

Method of Adjusting to Staffing Variances
When more staff are needed for the shift than has been scheduled, the head nurse, or designee takes necessary action. After hours nursing supervisor is notified. Staff are then temporarily reassigned (floated) from other areas or called in from home for overtime

If the unit has an excess number of staff, after consideration of the above items, the head nurse or nursing supervisor is notified. These nurses are then utilized in other areas as needed.

Cardiovascular telemetry nurses generally float to the following units:
- CCU - (Non ventilated patients only)
- CSICU-(Non ventilated patients only
- CVSD (Non ventilated patient)
- A-4- Medical cardiology

How are in-services/continuing education programs provided to maintain staff competency?

- Continuing education is offered through Nursing Deve lopment & Saudization (ND&S) and at the Unit level
- coordinated by the Head Nurse and Clinical Instructor. Education needs are identified through needs assessment tools, treatment protocols, performance improvement activities, regulatory agencies, new technology, new equipment, new products and individual input and surveys. Topics other than those which are based upon mandates and updated protocols are also arranged. These may be issues of interest raised by the Unit staff, topics selected from the departments' needs assessment or information of interest or relevance from other departments.

Required Competencies:
Please see "Competency Based Practice Orientation and Ongoing Education" outline on the last page

Annual review of education includes:
- Age Specific Care competency
- Performance Improvement
- Fire and Electrical Safety
- Infection Control and prevention online modules
- Skin Care and Pressure Ulcer Prevention online module
- Wound Care Online module
- Point of Care Testing (POCT)
- Medication Safety Online module Procedural sedation management.
- Chest tube maintenance
- Others (as needs are identified)

METHOD OF COMMUNICATION WITH OTHER DEPARTMENTS/PROGRAMS

Internal and External Methods of Communication

Communication within the unit includes direct communication by nursing staff with physicians, health educators, social workers, respiratory therapists, dietitians, pharmacists, and other involved services. Communication and discussion of patients' plan of care occur among the multidisciplinary team during the daily grand rounds. Dissemination of information is by posted memos, inservice boards, E-mail, online communication shared folder and staff meetings with the head nurse and/or clinical coordinator/charge nurse.

Communication among nursing units is by direct communication when needs arise, E-mail, telephone and nursing leadership meetings for information sharing and problem resolution.

Monthly and PRN meetings and open communications are maintained between the Cardiovascular Department medical director and head nurse to identify areas of excellence and areas of needed improvement, as well as general sharing of information.

Describe Collaborative Relationships with Other Departments

Nursing representation on various hospital multidisciplinary committees provides communication among departments, and this information is passed on through the previously mentioned methods.

The CVT has quarterly Collaborative Meetings to discuss quality improvement and cost containment while maintaining a rapid recovery program for cardiac surgery. This group is represented by members including CVT HN, clinical instructor, staff representative, cardiac surgery medical director, pediatric cardiologist, head nurses (OR, CSICU,CCU), supervisor of respiratory care and echo lab, head of cardiac anesthesia, Q&M representative, supervisor of blood bank and laboratory and other areas as needed.

GOALS OF DEPARTMENT

The goals of the service are:
- Apply the most current knowledge and practices to the care of the patient and their families.
- To maintain quality care with improved outcomes, while running a cost-effective service.
- Continue to be a benchmark institution for care of both the adult and pediatric cardio-vascular patient.
- Promote development of clinical expertise of each individual staff in CVT.
- Maintain a culturally sensitive environment supportive to the values and tradition of Islam.

PLAN TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF SERVICE
- Continue to standardize preceptor ship within the unit adjustable according to the perceived needs of the learner and develop more staff with good teaching skills to become more competent preceptors.
- Continue to develop clinical expertise of each individual staff in CVT by enrolling more nursing staff to the clinical skills lab teaching sessions, pediatric cardiac course and cross - training of staff to CSICU/ CVSD and OR/Cathlab.
- More comprehensive patient/family education with the coordination of health education program especially with discharge medications, post discharge care and resources available for potential complications.
- Continue in participating in the development and training of Saudi nurse training program..
- Integration of evidence based practice in the revision of policy and procedures
- Encourage more staff to get Certification for Cardiac/ Vascular Nursing and get membership for internationally recognized Nursing organization.
- Continue monitoring the unit specific quality indicators as per NDNQI
- Embed in clinical practice new trends in nursing from latest evidence based research.

Benefits
The Hospitals generous benefits package is beyond comparison to packages you can receive in your home country. Take a moment to consider the attractive, potentially tax-free salary, generous leave time, free Hospital housing, free medical & dental care, in addition to airline tickets, recreational facilities, relocation allowance, severance bonus, and remarkable service bonuses.

Our client hospital allows you to gain experience with some of the world's foremost Medical professionals.
- Education and Development
- Career Planning and development.
- Continuing professional development.
- Personal and professional opportunities
- Opportunities for attendance at professional association meetings, conferences and seminars.

Requirements

- Registered Nurse with current nursing license from country of origin
- Two years recent acute care nursing experience

About the Company

Professional Connections International Healthcare Recruitment Agency

Professional Connections, often referred to as Profco, is an international healthcare recruitment specialist. Profco is working to help placing credentialed nurses, doctors and allied health professionals in exciting opportunities with leading hospitals around the world. International assignments are a great way for nurses and other healthcare professionals to broaden their experience and to see how healthcare is delivered in other countries, while at the same time enhancing their career prospects as they gain experience in different parts of the world.