Job Summary:

 While demonstrating through behavior Decatur Morgan Hospital’s mission, vision and values, the Registered Nurse serves as a leader of the healthcare team at Decatur Morgan Hospital by establishing an authentic personalized relationship with the patient and their chosen support system, collaborating with physicians and other team members to assess, plan, implement and evaluate an individualized plan of care that promotes optimal health or supports a peaceful death.  The RN utilizes the best scientific evidence and compassion to assist the patient in navigating their health journey.  The RN accepts responsibility, authority and accountability for management and provision of care in accordance with the current policies and procedures.

Key Responsibilities / Essential Functions

1. Caregiver:  The caregiver role has traditionally included those activities that assist the patient’s physical and psychologically while preserving the patient’s dignity.  Caregiving encompasses the physical, psychosocial, developmental, cultural and spiritual needs of the patient.
2. Communicator: Communication is an integral to all nursing roles. Nurses communicate with the patient, support persons, other health professionals, and people in the community. In the role of communicator, nurses identify patient problems and then communicate these verbally or in writing to other members of the health team. The quality of a nurse’s communication is an important factor in nursing care.
3. Teacher: As a teacher, the nurse helps patients learn about their health and the health care procedures they need to perform to restore or maintain their health. The nurse assesses the patient’s learning needs and readiness to learn, sets specific learning goals in conjunction with the patient, enacts teaching strategies and measures learning.
4. Patient Advocate:  Patient advocate acts to protect the patient.  In this role the nurse may represent the patient’s needs and wishes to other health professionals, such as relaying the patient’s wishes for information to the physician. They also assist patients in exercising their rights and help them speak up for themselves.
5. Counselor:  Counseling is a process of helping a patient to recognize and cope with stressful psychological or social problems, to develop improved interpersonal relationships, and to promote personal growth. It involves providing emotional, intellectual, and psychological support.
6. Change Agent:  The nurse acts as a change agent when assisting others, that is, patients, to make modifications in their own behavior. Nurses also often act to make changes in a system such as clinical care.
7. Leader:  A leader influences others to work together to accomplish a specific goal. The leader role can be employed at different levels; individual patient, family, groups of patients, colleagues, or the community. Effective leadership is a learned process requiring an understanding of the needs and goals that motivate people, the knowledge to apply the leadership skills, and the interpersonal skills to influence others.
8. Research consumer – nurses often use research to improve patient care. In a clinical area nurses need to: 

a.     Have some awareness of the process and language of research

b.     Participate in identification of significant researchable problems

c.    Be a perceptive consumer of research findings

d.    Collaborate with the healthcare team

1. Safety Officer:  The nurse’s primary commitment is to the health, well-being, and safety of the patient across the life span and in all settings in which health care needs are addressed.  Safety is an essential and vital component of quality care

Belief System:  We the Nurses of Decatur Morgan Hospital Believe in…

1. Holistic and effective patient care that is based on scientific and ethical principles -nursing is a blend of art and science…it uses the mind as well as the heart.
2. Creating a work climate that nurtures and supports clinical expertise, education, and research while fostering the recruitment and retention of nursing staff who demonstrate the highest integrity, competence, and qualifications.
3. Providing nursing care that will achieve an optimal level of health and wellness, or when this is not possible, support the experience of loss and a peaceful death.
4. Fostering an environment that promotes respect, positive communication, and collaboration among all members – patient, family and healthcare team.

              We also believe that…

1. We should make those we serve our highest priority.
2. We should be technically strong with a thirst for knowledge.
3. Because evidence is ever-changing and evolving, we must actively cultivate our own personal growth and professional development.
4. The character of the nurse is as important as the knowledge he/she possesses.
5. The cultural beliefs, ethnic background, and sexual orientation of a patient or family should be respected without showing discrimination.
6. We should promote health and prevent disease.

Minimum Knowledge, Skills, Experience Required:

·         Uses common sense and special medical skills to care for the sick

·         Understands technical information from supervisors, charts, reference books,  manuals and labels

·         Uses eyes, ears, hands and fingers with skill

·         Acts quickly in an emergency, rendering appropriate life-saving measures

·         Communicates with people

·         Change from one duty to another frequently

·         Follow and/or give precise instructions

·         Records and interprets information accurately

·         Able to care for patients of all ages

·         Current in BLS

Education:  Graduate of an accredited school of nursing.  Possesses a nursing license in good standing in the State of Alabama. BSN preferred but not required.

Experience: Acute care experience - 5 years preferred, 3 years required.