JOB SUMMARY: The primary purpose of your job position is to supervise, and to provide, the nursing and personal care required by residents of the facility in your nursing unit, and to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of all residents of the facility. Such care and assistance must be supervised and provided in accordance with the facility’s established policies and procedures and applicable laws and regulations, and the directions of your supervisors, who include the Administrator, Director of Nursing, Assistant Director of Nursing, House Supervisor and other members of the facility’s management to whom such persons report, in order to assure the highest degree of quality care is maintained at all times. As Charge Nurse you are delegated the administrative authority, responsibility, and accountability necessary for carrying out your assigned duties.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Must possess, as a minimum, a Nursing Degree from an accredited college or university, or be a graduate of an approved LPN program with a pharmacology course.
• Must demonstrate a working knowledge of general and geriatric nursing.
• Must possess a current, unencumbered license to practice as a RN or LPN in Illinois.
• Must be a minimum of twenty-one (21) years of age.
• Must function independently when required, and demonstrate the ability to deal tactfully with staff, residents, family members, visitors, government agencies and their representatives, outside health care professionals, support agencies, and the general public.
• Must demonstrate leadership and supervisory ability and the willingness to work harmoniously with professional and non-professional personnel.
• Must demonstrate knowledge of relevant IDPA, IDPH, JCAHO, and OBRA regulations.
• Must be able to read, write, speak, and understand the English language.
• Must be able to make independent decisions when circumstances warrant such action.
• Must be knowledgeable of nursing & medical practices & procedures, as well as laws, regulations, and guidelines that pertain to nursing care facilities.

• Support the facility’s philosophy of care and strive to achieve its goals and objectives.
• Be sensitive to residents’ families and respond in an appropriate professional way as the situation requires.
• Assign all aides to residents-spelling out break times and all special duties to be completed.
• Supervise all aides in performing their duties by checking their work closely to ascertain that assignments have been completed.
• Administer all parenteral, intramuscular, and sub-cutaneous injections.
• Make daily rounds on the wing to ensure that individual Care Plans are being followed and assess each resident’s status in accord with his/her Care Plan.
• Assist in updating the Care Plan every 30-90 days depending on the resident’s condition and level of care at the Care Plan meeting.
• Recommend changes needed in staff as to number of aides and kind of work performed.
• Participate in staff meetings in order to keep staff performance at optimum level.
• Administer or supervise all treatments prescribed by physician including, but not limited to, decubitus care, foley catheter care, hot and cold compounds and intravenous care.
• Make rounds with physicians and record visits in chart.
• Personally, receive or place calls to physicians and transcribe all physician’s orders.
• Administer all medications. Maintain a current report of narcotics received and used.
• Daily review the documentation of dispensing controlled substances and narcotics. Reviews the records no less than weekly, or sooner if a discrepancy is noted, to ascertain that they are properly counted and documented from shift to shift. Ensure that drugs covered by the Controlled Substances Act are verified by inventory.
• Order and give all new medications and chart same when done.
• Direct charting in his/her shift and make monthly detailed evaluation of all resident charting so that charts always reflect progress and condition of residents.
• Be responsible for well-being and nursing care of all residents assigned to his/her unit while on duty. Contact families regarding significant decline in resident’s status or transfer to hospital.
• Ensure that nursing personnel provide treatments, diets, rehabilitative nursing care, activities of daily living, protective services, and training in self-care as stated in the care plan to ascertain that optimum comfort and care is provided.
• Make rounds and observe individual residents who are experiencing episodes of acute illness, deterioration in health status, recent injury, recovering from surgery, etc., to be acquainted with the resident’s status, both physically and emotionally and to ascertain that the staff is rendering proper care.
• Make transportation and other arrangements for patients that must see their physician or other outside professional medical provider.
• At all times abide by policies of the facility and ascertain that employees under his/her supervision do the same.
• Supervise serving of prescribed diets and fluid intake (it is acceptable to document only deviations from normal) and report persistent unresolved problems to the physician and the DON
• Ensure that all medications and treatments are charted by the person administering the medication or completing the treatment on his/her assigned shift.
• Prepare incident and accident reports and forward them to the ADON.
• Ensure that a copy of the medical records or an abstract of them are forwarded with the transfer of residents to a hospital or other health care facility.
• Detect and correct situations that have a high probability of causing accidents or injuries to residents and/or staff.
• Assure that work/assignment areas are clean and free of hazardous conditions, i.e. spills, excess carts, etc. and that equipment, tools, supplies, etc. are properly stored while working, as well as before leaving such areas for breaks, mealtimes, and end of the workday.
• Assure that established infection control and standard precaution practices are maintained when performing nursing procedures.
• Follow established safety precautions when performing tasks and when using equipment and supplies.
• Assure that equipment is cleaned and prepared for the next shift.
• Report all equipment malfunctions and breakdowns to the ADON as soon as possible and keep the ADON informed of supply needs and equipment needing replacement.
• Assure that work schedules are followed.
• Report all hazardous conditions or equipment to the ADON.
• Maintain the confidentiality of resident information and honor his/her personal and property rights.
• Attend nursing department, Care Plan, and other meetings as directed by the DON, ADON, or In-Service Coordinator.
• Attend and participate in in-service educational classes and on-the-job training programs as scheduled or as directed.
• Turn in Days Off and payroll special request forms, supply sheets, and annual medical examinations in a timely fashion.
• Follow established fire, disaster, and evacuation policies and procedures.
• Perform other related duties as directed by the DON, ADON, or the Administrator.