PRN Staff Nurse - Surgical and Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit (SNICU)

University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics-recognized as one of the best hospitals in the United States-is Iowa's only comprehensive academic medical center and a regional referral center. Each day more than 12,000 employees, students, and volunteers work together to provide safe, quality health care and excellent service for our patients. Simply stated, our mission is: Changing Medicine. Changing Lives.

The Surgical and Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit (SNICU) is the largest intensive care unit in Iowa, seeing more than 2,500 patients each year. The 36-bed unit is structurally divided into three bays. It is staffed by a multidisciplinary team skilled in the care of acutely ill surgical and neuroscience patients.

Beyond routine care for patients requiring intensive care following surgery, the SNICU provides care for patients suffering from:

• Respiratory failure
• Sepsis
• Multi-system trauma
• Peri-operative complications
• Acute neurological injuries
• Pre- and post-organ transplantation care
• Pain

• Pulmonary artery catheters
• Arterial lines
• Intracranial pressure monitoring and CSF drainage
• Ventilatory support
• Continuous infusion of vasoactive medications
• Care for micro-vascular reconstruction
• Advanced neurological monitoring
• Multiple renal replacement therapies (CRRT)
• Nitric oxide
• Hypothermia Management
• Pentobarbital Comas

The SNICU is grounded in the belief that our primary responsibility is to provide care that will assist critically ill patients to cope with the physiological and psychological components of their illness or injury. The goal of the critical care team is to assist the patient and their family to maximize those actions that support a state of well-being, minimize those actions that threaten it, and, when necessary, to attain a dignified and peaceful death. We believe that care of the critically ill patient and family is both an art and a science intended to bring about maximum quality of life.

• Joint Commission Comprehensive Stroke Center
• Joint Commission Gold Seal of Approval for stroke care
• The Joint Commission Designated Primary Stroke Center
• Advanced Certification in Palliative Care from The Joint Commission
• American College of Surgeons (ACS) Verified Level 1 Trauma Center
• American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) Silver Beacon Award for Excellence

Characteristic Duties of our Staff Nurses include but are not limited to:

• Applies nursing theory to the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and evaluation of patient responses to health and illness
• Assesses patient health care preferences and expectations
• Collaboratively coordinates the continuum of care across settings
• Develops patient care plan based on patient condition, age, and psychological, educational, and socioeconomic conditions that prescribes interventions to attain expected outcomes
• Implements patient care plan according to patient priorities, which includes interventions identified through nursing diagnoses. Documents/reports interventions and patient/family response
• Collaborates and integrates contributions of patients and families into multidisciplinary patient care plan
• Develops, coordinates and implements transfer/discharge planning throughout episode of care
• Implements nursing interventions according to department, division, and/or unit policies, procedures, and protocols to maintain safe environment for patients, visitors and staff. Follows universal precautions

Education Required:

• An Associate's Degree in Nursing, a Diploma in Nursing, a Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing, Professional Masters of Nursing and Healthcare Practice (MNHP), MSN/Clinical Nurse Leader or a Master's Degree in Nursing (MSN, MA) is required

Experience Required:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills are required
• Demonstrates excellent interpersonal skills with patients/families, nursing staff, and interdisciplinary team members as demonstrated through written and verbal interactions
• A minimum of current telemetry or current cardiac step down experience or 1 year recent RN experience or Completion of senior internship/preceptorship or completion of at least 100 clinical hours in an ED, ICU, intermediate care unit
• General computer skills are required

Certifications:

• Current license to practice nursing in Iowa is required by date of hire
• Current ACLS certification is desired